Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a lovely start to your February and that the weekend isn’t too far off in the distance — a break is sounding pretty good to me right about now.

It was a busy week of action in the centerback room as Vancouver wrapped up their preseason in Spain, with a familiar face getting a contract extension and a new signing being added into the mix.

The new addition is Norwegian CB Bjørn Inge Utvik, continuing a trend of MLS teams gravitating towards Scandinavian centerbacks. The 27-year-old was previously plying his trade for Eliteserien club Sarpsborg 08.

Like many of Vancouver’s moves this offseason, the Utvik signing has been met with some mixed reactions. This one, however, I rate and it goes beyond the simple reason that the Caps are in dire need of some centerback depth — though that certainly factors into it as well.

A look at the underlying numbers suggest Utvik fits the Vanni Sartini centerback profile very well. While Norway is a step down from MLS, he is good on the ball (80% dribble rate), decent in the air (65% aerial duels won), OK at playing long balls out of the back (46.5% long ball success rate) and Football Reference indicates he ranked pretty well in the league for interceptions and other defensive actions.

That profile seems to be what Vanni looks for in his centerbacks and Utvik appears to fit it quite well. I think it’s also worth remembering that this is more of a depth piece, a half-step above Karifa Yao in terms of the number of minutes we should expect Utvik to get. Yao didn’t work out in Vancouver and that’s OK. But bringing in a guy with first division experience in Europe to fill that depth role makes a lot of sense and it seems like he will slot in naturally next to Ranko Veselinovic and Tristan Blackmon in a back three or a two centerback system.

Speaking of Blackmon, he was the other CB in the news this week, inking a contract extension that will keep him around through the 2027 campaign. This is a positive development, as it is once again an example of Vancouver locking down their core players proactively.

Despite the occasional big mistake, Blackmon is a solid, above average MLS centerback. He remains very good on the ball and in passing out of the back and while his defensive numbers are less impressive, he fits well in a back three or a back two and those defensive errors can be covered up by other pieces in the backline. Blackmon also is quite good at getting himself into useful positions going forward and on set pieces.

While I wouldn’t mind the addition of another high level defensive piece, it seems that won’t come at centerback unless Javain Brown (who was the subject of European bids last year) departs the club. That’s OK — the team is presumably directing its attention at the Richie Laryea sized hole at right back — but is something to watch going forward.

Shameless Self Promotion

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