Good Monday morning Caps fans. I hope you all are having a festive time around the holidays. And, if you’re not, there is also good news — the winter solstice is in the books so days will be getting longer again now.

The Whitecaps did something they rarely do in the MLS SuperDraft: they picked a player I was tracking in the run up to the draft. And, more than that, they picked a player I was excited about from some pre-draft reading (largely centered on American Soccer Analysis’ draft preview).

Tate Johnson, a left back from North Carolina, probably won’t be a starter this year but, given Sam Adekugbe’s injury record, it can’t be ruled out. He profiles as a left back in a back four, which is what Axel Schuster expects the team to be playing this year.

I won’t opine at length on these picks, as Caleb Wilkins has an excellent deep dive on their profiles (which is in the links below).

But Johnson immediately jumps out as having a great bit of attacking skill, at least in terms of ball carrying and progressive passes. This has long been a point of emphasis for the Caps in recruitment, as the team tries to get the ball into the final third, where you can let Ryan Gauld take things from there.

Johnson fits that profile well. He is a bit undersized but got a lot of seasoning at UNC, starting most every match, which makes me think he isn’t a huge defensive liability. And while college soccer isn’t what it used to be, getting that level of experience in the ACC is as good of preparation as you could reasonably be asking for.

At 19-years-old, Johnson also can still be developed. And if there is a SuperDraft position where the Caps like to develop young players, it’s at fullback, where they have gotten meaningful MLS contributions out of Javain Brown and Jake Nerwinski.

And then there is the profile in terms of the roster build. As a Generation Adidas player, Johnson will fill the last position on the supplemental roster, meaning their salary won’t hit against the cap. Adding a GA player isn’t necessarily a guarantee the player will be elite but it does give you a bit of roster flexibility to find out.

In the second round, the Caps went in for another ACC fullback, right back Nikola Djordjevic from Southern Methodist. Interestingly enough, Djordjevic has a very similar profile to Johnson (an undersized fullback who can carry the ball forward). He doesn’t seem quite as good as Johnson, nor is he quite as young, so this feels like more of a pick to round out the Whitecaps 2 side. If he does ever make a first team impact, Djordjevic is a domestic player. But I wouldn’t hold your breath that this will happen.

In other news, Schuster alluded that the team has a (non-Canadian!) manager but is finalizing formalities and probably won’t have the announcement rolled out until after Christmas. This being MLS, I expect the name might leak in the meantime. But, for now, we’ll wait for the next development in what has already been the wildest offseason in recent memory.

Shameless Self Promotion

For a more rigorous assessment of the Caps’ SuperDraft picks, Caleb Wilkins digs in for one of his patented deep dives.

Best of the Rest

More on the current status of the Caps’ head coaching search.

A rundown of (somewhat inflated) grades from the SuperDraft.

Jonathan David and Vanessa Gilles have been tapped as Canada’s players of the year. Tough to argue with those.

After a memorable 2024, can Canadian soccer find a way to top it in 2025 and beyond?