RENTON — Coming off a season in which they won Leagues Cup, finished the regular season with 55 points and set franchise records for goals scored and matches played across all competitions, the Seattle Sounders can rightfully feel as though 2025 was a generally successful campaign. Add in the variable that they accomplished all that while using a lot of younger players, and it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that they are choosing to head into the offseason mostly intact.
Addressing the media in their end-of-year press conference, head coach Brian Schmetzer declared that “everything was a success until that final moment”, while General Manager Craig Waibel called it “hands down the most enjoyable year of my front office career.”
Whether it was mostly for show or not, they came off as not exactly itching for big change. To that end, the 22 players they currently have under contract represent 84.1% of the minutes and 94.4% of the goals from 2025, while also representing 85% of the guaranteed compensation.
Here were the main takeaways from the roughly 45-minute session:
This feels like it could be a pretty quiet offseason
A year ago when Waibel and Schmetzer met the press, they clearly had some ideas about how they wanted to improve the roster despite falling just short of hosting MLS Cup. Their focus at the time was on improving the offense. It would be fair to say they accomplished that goal, improving their per-game scoring by nearly 20%.
Despite claiming fewer points, finishing lower in the table and advancing less far in the playoffs, there was no similar desire expressed this year. Both Waibel and Schmetzer shared a belief that improvements can be made by dealing around the margins.
“I like the roster as it sits now,” Schmetzer said. “I like the stability.”
Waibel didn’t sound like he was itching to blow things up, either.
“In terms of a specific piece, I’m not sure there’s one that would unlock it,” Waibel said. “The truth is, this is the exact group of players that won a big trophy. I think we have a lot of quality.”
Although our estimates are that the Sounders have about $1.6 million in salary-cap flexibility — thanks mostly to money they didn’t spend last year — that’s not quite enough to make the type of impact signing that would immediately be expected to challenge for significant minutes while still having the ability to fill out the rest of the roster efficiently.
The only way that changes is if the Sounders are able to move someone, which certainly remains possible.
