The Other Keepers

As in the guys that aren't Mr Kasey Keller.  Due to injuries Keller played essentially all competitive matches.  Next year with the potential for a dozen more matches in the season and Kasey passing 40 in just a few days the back-up keeper will be much more important.  While he does feel healthier at the end of this season than in the past, he made many statements that it was due to the nature of MLS playing basically once a week.  As the Sounders advance in the CONCACAF Champions League that will be less true.

Chris Eylander: Eylander won the 2008 Player of the Open Cup despite playing on a team that did not win the trophy.  Playing against primarily MLS sides Chris showed that his two great years in USL-1 showed more than just minor league talent but a shot at a bigger opportunity.  That opportunity was supposed to be this year.  An injury meant that his season was kept to a single match at 90 minutes where he gave up two goals.  Only health will prevent him from being back as many see him as next in the line of successful keepers from Washington.

Expectation for 2010 - Unprotected for Expansion Draft. Resigned by Seattle. Invited to training camp and making the roster.
Short Term Peak - Starting keeper in all non-MLS matches and in the 18 on game day.

Terry Boss: Was last a starter for the USL-2 Charlotte Eagles Boss spent a season as Keller's understudy due to the Eylander injury.  He was out of form when signed and so was not seen as an option in the US Open Cup this season and only saw time in the 18 through the season.  Boss is slightly taller, and does have some Puerto Rican National Team experience, but is at this time seen as a back-up. Boss' future lies in the future of a restarted MLS Reserve League or through roster size expansion.

Expectation for 2010 - Unprotected for Expansion Draft. Invited to training camp
Short Term Peak - Backup keeper for League Play, starting early rounds of US Open Cup

Ben Dragavon: The MLS Pool Keeper of the Year, if such an award existed, as he was called up by two teams, and appeared in the match when Keller handled the ball outside of the box.  He has a cult following from his USL days, and has had the same keeper coach for several years now.  The same man who has trained Keller and Eylander - Tom Dutra. Like Boss, Ben's chances at a role with a single team are highly dependent on the league's CBA and roster structure for 2010.  Dragavon though likely has a better shot at remaining a Sounder, even if not officially so.

Expectation for 2010 - Unprotected for Expansion Draft. Invited to training camp
Short Term Peak - Backup keeper for League Play, starting early rounds of US Open Cup

I would not expect any of these players to be picked in the Expansion Draft. If Eylander had been healthy there would have been a chance.