Union announces expansion draft picks

Here they are, listed by position and previous club:

GK Brad Knighton, New England Revolution

D David Myrie, Chicago Fire
D Shavar Thomas, Chivas USA
D Jordan Harvey, Colorado Rapids

M Shea Salinas, San Jose Earthquakes
M Stefani Miglioranzi, Los Angeles Galaxy
M Andrew Jacobson, DC United

F Nick Zimmerman, New York Red Bulls
F Alejandro Moreno, Columbus Crew
F Sebastian Le Toux, Seattle Sounders

My opinion: Moreno, Thomas, Miglioranzi and Le Toux are the biggest names, in that order. Knighton is a huge surprise, especially given the other goalkeepers who were available (Danny Cepero in particular).

Steven Goff of the Washington Post is reporting that the Union have acquired Real Salt Lake backup goalkeeper Chris Seitz, a University of Maryland graduate, for allocation money and "the promise to not select any of its players in the expansion draft."

I've had two people at the Union tell me they know nothing about it, but given Seitz's Maryland connections my guess is that's where this is coming from. If the trade happens, my guess is Seitz will be the starter.

And it would explain why the Union didn't pick any RSL players, Robbie Russell in particular.

The other teams that the Union did not pick any players from were Houston, Toronto, Dallas and Kansas City.

As for the players that were selected, Kerith Gabriel of the Daily News crunched the numbers and figured out that the average age of these players is 25 1/2, for what that's worth.

Kerith's story on the draft, including quotes from coach Peter Nowak, is here.

Audio of Nowak's press conference is below. Video highlights will come later.  The big notable is that Union coach Peter Nowak was pretty vague when I asked him how the salary cap factored into their decisions.