For the second year in a row, Denis Hamlett will be an assistant with a team making the move from Div.-2 to Major League Soccer.

Early Monday morning, the Whitecaps announced that the club had re-signed goalkeeper Joe Cannon and defender John Thorrington, while it had traded opening-day keeper Jay Nolly to the Chicago Fire in exchange for a first-round pick in the, ahem, MLS Supplemental Draft. That is, a pick which has a minute chance of actually cracking the Whitecaps’ lineup — as anything after round two of the MLS SuperDraft proper is a crapshoot.

The Chicago Fire aren’t heading to the MLS playoffs, but the team did provide the league with its final Player of the Week for the 2011 regular season. Rookie defender Jalil Anibaba got the nod after the votes from the membership of the North American Soccer Reporters was counted. Anibaba scored twice in Chicago’s season-ending 3-2 win over the Columbus Crew.

Davies hasn’t seen much action for the veteran-laden Galaxy, but as a former top prospect who is only 22 at the moment, he gives the club another young defender to develop. And, anyone who has seen TFC this season knows the centre of defence is the club’s most pressing problem.

All Fire-d up! Dan Gargan was feeling exactly that on Sunday night after he scored a second-half insurance goal against his former club in Chicago Fire’s 2-0 win over Toronto FC at Toyota Park.

It has its primary sponsor. It has its new logo. And now the Montreal Impact has its man. He is Jesse Marsch.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and, through a combination of inspired finishing, loose defensive play and some diabolical goalkeeping, the Whitecaps and Fire produced a six-goal thriller. The Whitecaps won 4-2 at Empire Field — and the Fire erased all doubt of who is the worst team in MLS at the moment.

Jarju has been called up to the Gambian national squad and will begin preparations for a friendly on Wednesday against the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After informing Dan Gargan he was no longer part of the team’s plans earlier this week, Toronto FC sent the defender and a second-round pick to the Chicago Fire for veteran fullback Dasan Robinson.

Looking back at the week that was in Major League Soccer, one game stands out above all others — Seattle’s 4-3 win over the Colorado Rapids was a wild affair that had the throngs of fans in the Emerald City on the edge of their seats. Mauro Rosales, who scored a goal and added an assist, was voted the MLS Player of the Week by the members of the North American Soccer Reporters on Monday.