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Impact, Timbers swap goalkeepers Ricketts, Perkins

Ricketts (Getty Images)

Two teams on the outside of the playoff race looking in have swapped goalkeepers in an unusual mid-season deal.

The Montreal Impact sent goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts to the Portland Timbers for Troy Perkins in a straight-up trade that sees both veteran goalkeepers get a change of scenery. For both keepers, it will be their third MLS teams in as many seasons. Perkins returned from Norway to play for D.C. United in 2010 before being traded to the Timbers ahead of their expansion season. Ricketts starred for the Los Angeles Galaxy before being acquired by Montreal in the offseason.

Perkins is on the books for a smaller salary cap hit ($190,000 base salary compared to Ricketts' $250,000 according to MLS Players Union documents) and is four years younger than the 35-year-old Jamaican international, who was acquired by the Impact from the Galaxy in the offseason for a reported sum of $200,000 in allocation money, according to Fox Soccer.

From a statistical standpoint, Perkins and Ricketts have had similar seasons. Perkins has the edge in saves (63-59) and goals against average (1.61-1.64) and both have three clean sheets.

What do you think of the deal?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The Impact replace an aging keeper with a solid vet who has a few years left while Portland gets to roll with their young keeper of the future. It is a win-win for both clubs moving forward.

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  2. So what u r also saying is that Montreal is paying a lot more to have Perkins than what Portland was paying.
    Why r they doing that? Is Perkins really that much of an improvement over Professor Rickets for the Impact? Or is Portland the real winner in this case?

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  3. This may be correct but Timbers fan criticism is that Ricketts isn’t very good and is paid a lot of money, both of which are true.

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  4. Maybe you’re right (even if you feel the need to be a jerk) but you’re sure attributing a lot of smarts to a Timbers FO that has shown itself to not have a lot of them. For a team you credit with having a Shrewd Master Plan, it’d be a novel and noticeable improvement on their part.

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  5. Thanks for the ignoramus swipe. We are content to realize that money is involved, but in terms of who has shown up in games, only Perkins rates as most consistent.

    And nice projections without any evidence.

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  6. All due respect but the failure to respond to a coaching change actually tends to suggest the roster is the problem. Unlike, say, TFC under Mariner, the team did not storm up the table, suggesting deeper issues than coaching.

    Not saying keep GW, just saying you might as well be beginning to look to next year in terms of re-constructing the team, perhaps with the notion of a new coach over the players.

    And maybe Ricketts is being given a limited opportunity to show something but gets the door just like anyone else who doesn’t display some quality the next few months. Unlike Perkins, who’s been a no-hoper since he left DC the first time, Ricketts was recently the best in MLS til he got hurt.

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  7. I’ll just point out your suggestion is to install a player-coach and then call those who disagree idiots.

    When your team stinks right now and is in the second year of playoff wilderness — even in expansion — should mediocre players really be immune as fan favorites? I could understand if you had Wondo or Nielsen traded but this is a GK allowing 1.6 G/per game. The Ricketts exchange is the questionable bit, more than the idea of trading Perkins, whose effectiveness as part of the Timbers’ defense is the real “bird” to your fan base.

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  8. More likely they are looking at a team whose fortunes have not turned around by replacing the coach, with 37 GA in 22 GP, where Perkins often seems suspect, and Gleeson just missed the Olympics injured behind O’Keefe, a college player.

    Portland’s needs and Ricketts’ expense suggests he is being brought in to start, although Montreal’s own GA raises the question whether it’s wise. After all, if Montreal thinks Ricketts has lost it, Perkins is a cheaper bad keeper and they can have the same dream as Portland that they’ll turn it around.

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  9. hahaha Portland fans really know nothing. Montreal is paying a majority of Ricketts salary, Portland will use Ricketts as a mentor to Gleeson then dump him in the offseason, Gleeson will assume the starting job and Portland will have 200k cap space to use. How do you not like this trade? Your team is not going to make the playoffs so your getting mad at your FO for building for next season? Perkins is average at best, i expected a little more from Portland fans but most are hipsters that dont know anything about the sport so i should have known

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  10. not true at all… it isnt Perkins fault the Timbers cant score. Perkins has been the lone bright spot on the team. well worth the money. this is a silly trade by the Timbers. is this what Wilkinson is thinking… “ok so lets take our best and most consistent player, who has been the backbone of the team and trade him for a fading older, more expensive player who is on the downslide.”

    good move GW!

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  11. I still love the Buffalo Soldier from his time in LA, but Portland got the short end of the stick. 2012 Perkins is a better keeper than 2012 Ricketts. Plain and simple. If Portland had anything resembling a defense, Perkins’ GAA would be significantly lower.

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  12. “Let’s take one of our most popular players and trade him for a guy of comparable quality, but who is four years older and costs more!”

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  13. This feels like Gavin Wilkinson giving an obscene gesture (again) to Timbers fans. Perkins has been a fan favorite here. One of the only players left that everyone has confidence in. My 10 year old son is going to be crushed.

    GW is incompetent and needs to go immediately. Let one of the players (I’d suggest Perkins were he still here) be a player-coach for the remainder of 2012.

    Idiots.

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  14. Ugh, what the hell PTFC. Apparently some people (Ives included) rate Ricketts ahead of Perkins, but I don’t see it. Perkins has shown a deficiency in shots from distance, but guess what, Ricketts has that exact same weakness. I guess maybe Ricketts has a better box presence, but there better be some behind the scenes salary cap shuffling that makes this a worthwhile deal for Portland.

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  15. Well, I guess I don’t really get it. Both are in about the middle of the pack for MLS goaltenders and probably aren’t getting any better. Very bizarre that the trade is an equal one-for-one. So both teams are saying they would rather have the other team’s goalkeeper? Hardly a ringing endorsement for the player they are trading away…to each other!

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  16. Are the Timbers basically setting the table for Jake Gleeson to be the starting keeper next season? Because that is really the only reason to make this deal and if we do that then Ricketts’ get cut because we do not need to pay his salary if he is a backup keeper.

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