No D.C. United players selected in the 2016 MLS Expansion Draft

The 2016 MLS Expansion Draft is in the books, as Atlanta United and Minnesota United both picked over the rest of the league’s rosters to stock their own. The only important United - that’s D.C. United - ended up not losing any players while watching six fellow Eastern Conference teams forced to give up a useful player. That sounds like a good day at the office, even if nothing actually happened to the Black-and-Red.

Here’s how the entire expansion draft went down:

Pick #1 - Atlanta: Donny Toia (Montreal Impact)
Pick #2 - Minnesota: Chris Duvall (New York Red Bulls)
Pick #3 - Atlanta: Zach Loyd (FC Dallas)
Pick #4 - Minnesota: Collen Warner (Houston Dynamo)
Pick #5 - Atlanta: Clint Irwin (Toronto FC)
Pick #6 - Minnesota: Mohammed Saeid (Columbus Crew)
Pick #7 - Atlanta: Mikey Ambrose (Orlando City)
Pick #8 - Minnesota: Jeff Attinella (Real Salt Lake)
Pick #9 - Atlanta: Alec Kann (Sporting Kansas City)
Pick #10 - Minnesota: Femi Hollinger-Janzen (New England Revolution)

Atlanta, on the surface, may be preparing to ship some of these picks out. While Donny Toia and Mikey Ambrose make sense from a value perspective, and the club needs defenders, the choice of two goalkeepers jumps out as a bit odd for a team prominently linked with acquiring Brad Guzan. Clint Irwin would probably bring quite a bit in exchange. Zach Loyd is a bit of a gamble due to a concussion issue costing him the back half of 2016, but if he’s fit he is a very capable starter. One note, though: A pairing of Loyd and Michael Parkhurst would be the shortest first-choice center back duo in MLS by quite a bit.

Minnesota, meanwhile, seems to have used the draft to pick players they want to use straight away. Chris Duvall will compete with Kevin Venegas (a 2015 NASL Best 11 player) at right back, and possibly Justin Davis (who made the NASL Best 11 in each of the last three years) on the left. A central midfield pairing of Collen Warner and Mohammed Saeid will fit in well with Adrian Heath’s emphasis on possession. Jeff Attinella is probably a starting-quality MLS goalkeeper, and Femi Hollinger-Janzen showed the ability to be an excellent super-sub for New England this year.

United getting through unscathed is a mild surprise. Kofi Opare and Jared Jeffrey both seemed like appealing choices for the expansion sides, while a team could have also jumped for the leadership they’d get from Bobby Boswell, or at Travis Worra’s potential. Instead, United joined the 50% of MLS that ended up not losing anything.

Of course, the expansion draft is usually not truly done when the event itself ends. Multiple reports have trades brewing, with Minnesota coach Adrian Heath repeatedly making sure to add “if we keep them” to every statement about the players the Loons picked up today. Meanwhile, Atlanta has outright confirmed that moves are coming:

In other words, stay tuned. United could end up coming out of the expansion draft with more players than they started with.