NWSL teams can announce free-agent signings right now , but so far only the expansion teams Bay FC and the returning Utah Royals FC have made such announcements .
The other NWSL teams know that if they announce any free agent signings , it becomes a juggling act of if that newly-signed player comes at the expense of leaving another player unprotected for the expansion draft as Harvey mentioned . It ' s prudent for all NWSL teams to not get those signings in until after the expansion draft .
It may make these next few weeks boring and anxious in terms of wondering whether impact players like ROSE LAVELLE and EMILY SONNETT re-sign with the Reign , but the rest
ROSE LAVELLE of the teams in the league are in similar situations with their impact players who are also exploring the free agency market , perhaps for the first time in their lives .
EMILY SONNETT
Some NWSL teams have made trades with the expansion teams for protection for the expansion draft , mostly protection from one team , but not the other . While Gallimore didn ' t tip her hand , she did say the club is considering it , as well as strategizing this offseason without having any sort of expansion draft protection .
" I think we are looking at expansion draft protection . Clearly , it would be good to have it – one , just so we can continue to focus on what else we want to do during the trade window . So yeah , we ’ re going to continue to look at those opportunities as options .
We wanted to meet with our players first , obviously , last week and again , the timing of being in the Championship , having player meetings and being in discussions with other clubs about protection are all kind of right on top of each other . So yeah , those discussions are ongoing and we obviously have plans for having protection and not having protection . I think that those things are just all – we ’ re in the middle of all of it ," said Leslie Gallimore ( OL Reign General Manager ).
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