Real Salt Lake always expected to lose two players when Orlando City SC and New York City FC made their 10 selections in the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft. That came to fruition on Wednesday when New York selected midfielder Ned Grabavoy with its first selection and defender Chris Wingert with the final selection of the draft, ending the long tenures at RSL for two fan favorites.
Grabavoy played six seasons with RSL, coming to Real in 2009 through the Waiver Draft. He played 159 matches for Salt Lake, including 128 in a starting role, tallying 10 goals and 14 assists. He also played in 14 playoff matches, scoring the eventual series-winning goal in a 3-2 series victory over Seattle Sounders FC in 2011. The 31-year-old midfielder previously played for the LA Galaxy, Columbus Crew and San Jose Earthquakes from 2004-2008.
Wingert played eight seasons with Real Salt Lake, coming to Utah in a trade with the Colorado Rapids in 2007. In 204 matches for the club, he had one goal and 14 assists, playing mostly in a left back role. His 30 starts in 2014 matched his single-season career-high, while his 2,547 minutes were the third-most in a season in his career. In addition, he started in both playoff matches, giving him 18 starts in RSL’s 21 all-time playoff matches. The 32-year-old defender played 2004-2005 with the Columbus Crew and 2006-2007 with the Rapids. He was named RSL’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2013.
Real Salt Lake was one of five teams that lost the maximum two players in the draft. In the eight expansion drafts that have been held since RSL entered the league in 2005, the club has lost the maximum number of players in all but two (2007 and 2009). In 2009, RSL traded Chris Seitz to Philadelphia to avoid losing a player in the draft.
The following is the round-by-round run-down of the 2014 MLS Expansion Draft. Players in parenthesis were protected after the club lost one player in the draft. No team could lose more than two players.
Orlando City SC
1. Donovan Ricketts, GK, Portland Timbers (Villafana)
2. Tony Cascio, MF, Colorado Rapids (Burch)
3. Jalil Anibaba, DF, Seattle Sounders FC (Scott)
4. Pedro Ribeiro, FW, Philadelphia Union (Lahoud)
5. Lewis Neal, MF, DC United (Arnaud)
6. Jairo Arrieta, FW, Columbus Crew (Speas)
7. Heath Pearce, DF, Montreal Impact (Toia)
8. Danny Mwanga, FW, Colorado Rapids
9. Mark Sherrod, FW, Houston Dynamo (Willis)
10. Eric Gehrig, DF, Columbus Crew
New York City FC
1. Ned Grabavoy, MF, Real Salt Lake (Salcedo)
2. Patrick Mullins, FW, New England Revolution (Neumann)
3. Jason Hernandez, DF, San Jose Earthquakes (Harden)
4. Daniel Lovitz, MF, Toronto FC (Bloom)
5. Tony Taylor, FW, New England Revolution
6. Mehdi Ballouchy, MF, Vancouver Whitecaps FC (Mezquida)
7. George John, DF, FC Dallas (Keel)
8. Thomas McNamara, MF, DC United
9. Sal Zizzo, MF, Sporting Kansas City (Peterson)
10. Chris Wingert, DF, Real Salt Lake
