Julian de Guzman of Canada is taken down by Ramon Sanchez of El Salvador at Crew Stadium on July 7, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio.Jamie Sabau
Once again, Toronto FC has left big ticket midfielder Julian de Guzman unprotected in an MLS expansion draft.
Teams are allowed to protect just 11 players in advance of Wednesday's expansion draft by the Montreal Impact. So-called designated Generation adidas — young talent — and homegrown players are protected and do not count against a team's protected number.
Teams can lose no more than one player from their 2011 roster during the expansion draft.
With a salary of more than US$1.9 million this season, de Guzman would be an expensive pickup for the fledgling Impact. Toronto also made the Canadian international available before last year's expansion draft.
Among those unprotected by Toronto are defenders Adrian Cann and Dicoy Williams, who missed most of last season through injury. Forwards Nick Soolsma and Javier Martina, who saw little action as the season wore on, are also available.
Toronto protected two goalkeepers in Stefan Frei and Milos Kocic.
Vancouver's unprotected list includes goalkeepers Joe Cannon and Jay Nolly, Gambian forward Mustapha Jarju and veteran midfielder John Thorrington, who was limited to 11 games through injury.
Taking a player in the expansion draft does not mean he is headed to the new franchise. It could just be part of a more complicated sequence that involves a trade of players, draft choices or allocation money.
Los Angeles Galaxy protected David Beckham, whose contract expires at the end of the year.
But Philadelphia left U.S. international Freddy Adu unprotected while the San Jose Earthquakes made Canadian defender Nana Attakora available.
Chivas USA did not protect Canadian defender Ante Jazic.