Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a good week and that the weekend is coming into focus.

The Vancouver Whitecaps are spared the indignity of a game three this weekend, leaving us all without a ton to do for a few weeks.

Given the pause, however, I thought it would make sense to return to the MLS salary numbers that dropped last week. Given the run-up to game two, I didn’t cover them in depth, but thought they were worthy of more attention.

These figures, naturally, do not account for bonuses that could hit if, say, the Caps were to advance further in the MLS Cup playoffs or the money due to Tristan Blackmon for winning MLS Defender of the Year. That is a good problem to have (and one the Caps have not really ever had before), but it is a conundrum nonetheless.

One imagines the Caps will be running right up against the cap next season and will have to get a bit creative to keep the gang together. Or to at least keep the squad as intact as possible — the LA Galaxy are the cautionary tale of what happens when you have to blow up a championship caliber team due to cap constraints.

Thomas Müller will become a DP, which will help matters. But a player sale is likely this off-season anyway. Ali Ahmed, Seb Berhalter and Edier Ocampo will likely generate attention abroad. Ahmed seems like a near certainty to move on given the interest over the summer and, because he is a homegrown player, his sale would allow Vancouver to convert the maximum amount of his fee to GAM.

That alone could be enough to help ease things. But if Berhalter doesn’t move on, locking him into a new and improved contract would be a must (for perspective, he is currently being out-earned by Kenji Cabrera). If you’re looking for other guys to move on, Mathias Laborda is a clear option. Not because he is a bad player but because $1 million-plus is a lot of money for a guy who isn’t a nailed-on starter. And given the signings of Joedrick Pupe and Sebastian Schonlau, you have to think the Caps would at least entertain the notion of selling Laborda. There is also a world where the Caps let Yohei Takaoka walk and instead go with Issac Boehmer (or find a cheaper domestic veteran to slide in), though I’d still be a bit surprised if that happens.

Still, this team is well-positioned in part because of how effective their lower-priced depth players have been. Jayden Nelson on $414k, J.C. Ngando and Ralph Priso on around $100k and Tate Johnson, who is Generation Adidas and thus has a minimal cap hit, are all home runs from a cap perspective. Jesper Sorensen has proven he can elevate those pieces, meaning that even if there is some roster flux you would trust him to get the most out of whoever walks in the door. Cabrera is already a promising example of Sorensen being able to maximize new players.

All of this isn’t something to worry about yet — the players are being laser-focused on the playoffs, and so should we. But expect an interesting off-season, whenever it rolls around. Because, hey, it’s MLS, and when are things ever easy?

Shameless Self Promotion

This is the perfect time to lock in on the Vancouver Rise — we have complete coverage of their win in leg one against Ottawa.

Best of the Rest

Congrats to Tristan Blackmon and Seb Berhalter for being named to MLS’ Best XI, a big achievement for both that is richly deserved.

It was heartbreak for Jesper Sorensen, however, as he finished runner-up to Bradley Carnell in the coach of the year race. While I think Carnell is a worthy winner, I still think Sorensen was the most deserving pick.

Could Jesse Marsch stay on as head coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team after the World Cup?

Speaking of Marsch, Ali Ahmed and Jayden Nelson are in the side for November’s friendlies. And Berhalter is back in the squad for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.