Sporting Select Fire's Kann in Re-Entry Draft

Sporting KC actually made use of this year's Re-Entry Draft. Throughout the five previous drafts, KC had only ever selected one player, taking Frankie Hejduk in the second phase of the inaugural Re-Entry Draft in 2010. Hejduk was almost immediately traded to Los Angeles for the rights to Luke Sassano. KC had never been involved in the first phase of the re-entry draft, until today when the club selected the Chicago Fire's Alec Kann with the 11th pick of the draft.

Kann a 26 year old goalkeeper from Georgia was signed by the Fire before the 2013 MLS season. He spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons on loan with the Charlotte Eagles and St. Louis FC respectively. For both he was a regular starter, appearing in over 30 games over his two seasons in the US third division. Last year he played in 19 games for St. Louis, with a goals against average of 1.24 with six shutouts and a 5-7-7 record as St. Louis' primary starter. Kann also made his MLS debut this year, starting the Fire's season finale against the New York Red Bulls. He made six saves as the Fire fell 2-1. According to the players union numbers, Kann made just $60,000 last year for the Fire as their third string goalkeeper, so his salary number would fall in line with what you'd want from your third string goalkeeper.

With the selection of Kann, Sporting now has three goalkeepers on their roster joining Jon Kempin and Tim Melia heading into the 2016 season. The trio will head into preseason with Melia the clear number one but Kempin likely wanting to challenge him for that spot. If Kempin can't beat Melia out for the starting spot I'd like to see Kempin loaned to the Swope Park Rangers for the 2016 season to get continuous playing time in goal. With the Rangers not allowed to compete in the US Open Cup you could bring him back for those games or start him if Melia gets hurt. The upside to having the USL team in town allows for more fluid movement. Kann in this example would be the everyday back up for Melia in MLS regular season games, but would also potentially spend time with SPR as well. Of course this was the same feeling I had about Melia with Luis Marin last year and we all know how that turned out.