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With New York City FC and Orlando City joining Major League Soccer next year, the league will hold an Expansion Draft next Wednesday (December 10). Clubs are currently preparing to submit their player lists to league office – they are allowed to protect eleven players and could lose two. Here is a link to the full rules for the Expansion Draft. --- http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/2014-expansion-draft-rules

For MLS coaches, the next few days will be a guessing game as they take into account which pieces of their squad would be valued by New York and Orlando, but also being aware of the potential trade value of any players that are left exposed.

Vancouver Whitecaps have built a squad that includes plenty of depth, and that makes them vulnerable to losing a player or two, as it is impossible to protect all of the players who played an important role for the club in making the playoffs last season. So let's throw a dart at the board and see how close we can get to the bullseye. Here are my predictions:

Protected:
Steven Beitasour, Sebastian Fernandez, Jordan Harvey, Erik Hurtado, Gershon Koffie, Matias Laba, Kekuta Manneh, Darren Mattocks, Pedro Morales, David Ousted, Kendall Waston

Unprotected:
Mehdi Ballouchy, Mamado Diouf, Johnny Leveron, Andre Lewis, Nicolas Mezquida, Andy O'Brien, Mauro Rosales, Omar Salgado and Paolo Tornaghi

The Whitecaps Homegrown Players do not need to be protected, so Sam Adekugbe, Marco Carducci, Caleb Clarke, Kianz Froese, Ethen Sampson and Russell Teibert are all automatically safe, as is Christian Dean, who is protected because he is on a Generation Adidas contract.

Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson knows the whole process is a calculated risk: "You've just got to protect your players and the rest will take care of itself," said Robinson recently. And that is the key to this process. There is little margin for error, so the Whitecaps will have to ensure they protect the players they most want to keep, and not get into the game of wondering whether or not clubs would be interested in some of their key men due to other factors. We have seen in the past, clubs leave players unprotected because they believe a player's high salary would make him undesirable and that has backfired on a few occasions.

For example, earlier in the year, there was debate as to whether the Whitecaps would need to protect goalkeeper David Ousted as he is one of the most expensive shot-stoppers in the league, and takes up an international spot. But Ousted's performances towards the end of the season mean the Whitecaps cannot afford to lose him, so he must be protected.

The majority of the players on my predicted protected list are easy decisions to make. Even with a player like Darren Mattocks – who likely will be traded in the New Year – it is necessary to protect him because of his value in the league. The Whitecaps will be able to receive something sizeable in return for the Jamaican striker rather than lose him in the Expansion Draft.

The only slot I debated was whether to protect Sebastian Fernandez or Mauro Rosales. The Whitecaps would love to keep the veteran Rosales with the club next year, but it would need to be on much less money than last year. I believe Rosales could be more valuable than Fernandez next season, but the Uruguayan youngster has more upside in the long term.

With both players, there are factors that would make the expansion clubs think twice about using one of their picks. Fernandez' return to MLS hasn't yet been confirmed following his loan from Boston River last season, although both the Whitecaps and the player are hopeful of keeping him in Vancouver. As for Rosales, he could just decide to return to his native Argentina – if that happens, New York or Orlando would have wasted a pick. The same could be said for veteran defender Andy O'Brien, who would be provide depth and veteran leadership to either of the league's newcomers but is out of contract. I don't believe O'Brien would be interested in the upheaval of moving to another club. He wants to stay in Vancouver, but if that isn't possible, he may just return to the UK.

So of the players left unprotected, who are the Whitecaps most likely to lose? Mehdi Ballouchy would be top of my list. He has a wealth of MLS experience and would be a great player to have within an expansion squad. He is quality on the ball and can be a good influence on games in the midfield as he showed for the 'Caps last year off the bench.

Honduran international Johnny Leveron has shown his ability and composure in the centre of defence but I'm not sure whether either team would view him as the starting central defender that he wants to be. Even in Vancouver, it is unlikely Leveron will be the first choice to partner Kendall Waston in defence next year. Omar Salgado would be an interesting reclamation project should either NYCFC's Jason Kreis or Orlando's Adrian Heath believe they can get the unproven and unpredictable former top pick back on the right track after a controversial end to his time with the 'Caps.

Of the players on my unprotected list, in my opinion, Nicolas Mezquida would be the biggest loss. Carl Robinson has often talked about Mezquida's qualities and ability but we have only seen limited glimpses of the young Uruguayan due to the fact he is an understudy for MLS Newcomer of the Year Pedro Morales. But it's clear Robinson believes Mezquida will have a big role to play moving forward, and with the Whitecaps also in the CONCACAF Champions League next season, he could see his playing time increase dramatically.

There is a strong chance Carl Robinson will lose one of his players on Wednesday. That's the price to pay for a job well done in building a squad that has many valuable assets, even outside the players who are considered regular starters.