Impact to select 10 players on Nov. 23

The Montreal Impact will pluck 10 unprotected players off the roster off the existing MLS clubs on Nov. 23.

The Impact, which has Colombian defender Nelson Rivas and French midfielder/defender Hassoun Camara as the only two players officially on its books for its first MLS season in 2012, will build its roster at the expansion draft.

Each current team can protect 11 players from its roster. Generation Adidas players don’t need to be protected, nor are Homegrown Players on the team’s off-budget roster. And, according to the rulebook, “Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no-trade clause in his contract.”

MLS will make the protected rosters public on Nov. 21.

Clubs must also ensure that a number of international players are on their protected lists. At the time of the draft, each teams has to look at the number of internationals it has on its roster, and make sure three are NOT free for the Impact to choose. So, if a team has 10 internationals on its roster, it can’t make more than seven available. (If a team less than four internationals — it can still make one available to the Impact). This rule forces team to ensure that domestic players are available for Montreal to select; after all, at the expansion-draft level, where you aren’t picking the creme de la creme of the league, you don’t want to burn too many international slots.

What’s interesting is that, according to MLS, “For purposes of this expansion process, for US-based clubs, any non-domestic US player would count as an International and, for Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps, any non-domestic US player or non-domestic Canadian players would count as an International.” What does that mean? For a player to count as a Canadian, for example, he needs to have Canadian residency or a Canadian passport.

Once the Impact has selected a player from a team, it can’t take another player from that team.