Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all have had a lovely week and that you get a well-deserved break this weekend.

The big news this week was hearing from Axel Schuster for the first time since the Vegas bid was revealed, and relocation discussions started heating up.

Schuster’s tone hasn’t changed, but the good news here is that there’s probably no additional bad news. Axel largely repeated the refrain that has been the club’s focus all along: there is a need to enhance the club’s profitability, and many things must occur for that to happen. He didn’t offer a specific deadline from MLS on when this has to happen, which is probably a good sign, but he insisted it needs to be sooner rather than later. So not much new on that front.

The biggest bit of unambiguously good news is that Schuster himself has agreed in principle to a contract extension, with his current deal set to run out at the end of the season. The terms of the deal are obviously unknown, and this could be a safety net mechanism to help protect Axel even if the team does move. But given that Axel could easily get a job elsewhere (one imagines he would be sought after in both the Americas and Europe), the fact that he wants to stick around is encouraging. It certainly isn’t any sort of guarantee that the Whitecaps will be sticking around with him but it’s the first bit of positive news in awhile.

This is about to turn into an Axel Schuster appreciation post but if Schuster left, I don’t see a realistic pathway for this club sticking around. His centrality to the growth of this club on and off the pitch is obvious at this point but it bears repeating. In a league full of talented sporting directors, Axel is one of the very best. Sure, bringing in Müller doesn’t hurt but the biggest decision, arguably in this club’s history, was the decision not to retain Vanni Sartini and to hire Jesper Sorensen. Axel got that move, much like pretty much every other big call he’s had to make, right.

Even during the turmoil of the last year, I appreciate Schuster’s honestly and transparency. I’ve been frustrated by some of the obfuscating from ownership but I don’t think that’s Axel’s fault. Indeed, it seems that he’s trying to be more forthright than some others (cough, cough MLS HQ) want him to be. How it all ends is still unclear, but his mentality and commitment to the club deserve praise.

There are rumblings that a legitimate, serious local bid to buy the Caps is taking shape. I’m refusing to get my hopes up until things are set in stone, just because it feels like there will be lots of these sorts of false starts over the next few months (just like there have been for the last few months). But stay tuned in this space, as we see together what might be coming down the pike.

Shameless Self Promotion

The podcast returns to break down where things stand on and off the pitch.

Best of the Rest

You can add Canada Soccer to the entities that are in favor of #SavetheCaps.

More on the possibility of a local group emerging to buy into the Caps.

An interesting look at how other smaller market teams reel in big named European players (a la Müller).

A fresh injury for Alphonso Davies has raised fears about his status for the World Cup.

Toronto FC crashed out in the first round of the Voyageurs Cup, falling to CPL champs Atletico Ottawa.