With their third pick, the Vancouver Whitecaps took Seattle Sounders midfielder Nathan Sturgis, meaning that Seattle is now out of the expansion draft. The Sounders emerged with the likes of Blaise Nkufo, Leo Gonzalez, and Patrick Ianni left untouched. It's quite possible that either Vancouver was not watching Seattle this year, or they believed that luck was a valuable asset to their fledgling MLS side. ne of the commentators on the draft spoke on Vancouver's choice of Nathan Sturgis:
Let's remember when we're judging Nathan Sturgis, he was in that midfield with Osvaldo Alonso, who can make anyone look good.
While Sturgis did have a steady year for the Sounders, his weaknesses were exposed when Alonso was out injured. Alonso is one of the best players in MLS, and picked up much of the slack for Sturgis. Sturgis is weak both in passing and on set pieces, so seeing him go to a Sounders rival is really of little consequence. In addition, one of the reasons Sturgis was in the starting XI this season was due to Brad Evans' injury, so with Evans healthy again, Seattle is losing no real cover at the position--plus, the Sounders have Mike Seamon for cover, and Alvaro Fernandez can play in the center as well.
Of course, with Sanna Nyassi also off to Vancouver, Fernandez is almost certain to start on the right wing. In terms of both depth and skill, there's almost no way this draft could have gone better for Seattle.