The Colorado Rapids aren't about to stand pat as the MLS playoff race heats up.
Just two days after sending Mehdi Ballouchy to the New York Red Bulls for Macoumba Kandji, the Rapids have traded injured midfielder Colin Clark and an allocation to the Houston Dynamo for veteran winger Brian Mullan.
The Rapids instantly boost their midfield with a proven right winger in Mullan, who should help provide some service to the forward line of Conor Casey, Omar Cummings and Kandji. The Dynamo make the move with an eye toward the future after falling out of playoff contention.
Clark has endured torn ACLs each of the past two seasons, but had established himself as one of the league's best young wingers before the injuries.
What do you think of the trade? Think the Rapids are in position to make the playoffs now? Like the trade for Houston? Surprised there haven't been more trades at the MLS Trade Deadline?
Share your thoughts below.
Seems like a good trade for both teams. As a Dynamo fan, I hate to see Mullan go, but I wish him well. Rapids gain an experienced, competitive winger for the playoff push. Hopefully Clark will stay healthy and continue to develop under Kinnear’s tutelage.
Brian Mullan is basically a local guy as well. Don’t hold me to this as Brian was a couple years older than me, but I believe he played for Colorado Storm back in the day as well as Regis Jesuit. Brian won the Colorado HS player of the year as well. BM had the quickest couple of steps of any player I played against until college.
Nobody can adequately replace the key cogs in their team two years consecutively, when their loosing talent at their rate and players are aging. Just look at the Revolution.
In DeRo’s case, i’ll remind you we wasn’t just traded because we thought he was on the decline, but because he wanted to play for his hometown.
Then the following year, he was replaced by Holden, which nodoby thought would work, besides Kinnear and not even Kinnear to the extent that it did. He probably pegged him as a long term replacement for DeRo, but instead he had an incredible year and took off to Europe. He knew Clark was leaving, but nobody knew Stuart was gonna emerge like that.
Besides Stuart emerging that year Cameron did as well. This year was supposed to be big for Cameron. Kinnear said talked about putting him out wide and bringing Davis into the AM position.
But Cameron had an injury that basically put him out all year along with other players who have missed big chunks of the season due to injury. Coupled with the talent with the young players we’ve lost these past these past few years (Ianni, Jaqua, Kamara), the growing age of our core supporting players (Mullen, Mullrooney, Onstad even) or their retirement (Barrett, Wabel), the failure of Robinson to fully return to his form pre-injury, Boswell’s bad form and the Luis Landin failure.
It all makes sense to me.
Mediocrity for Mediocrity…MLS needs to bring in good, foreign players to team with the youngsters from the draft.
These re-hashed guys need to go.
you are an idiot
Well, because he has gotten proven results in MLS, won the MLS Cup 2 times, and for a while was putting on the best showing in the CCL. Besides Bruce Arena, has has arguable been the best coach in MLS history.
It is appropriate to cut the guy some slack after losing 3 of his best 4 players over the last 3 years. Moreover, DeRo basically forced himself out of Houston and the team had to cave. And Houston lost one of its arguably best player, Cameron, for a year with a knee injury.
With the whole “foreign DP” trend now in full force, Houston/Dom needs to readjust. But I think they will.
Heck, a lot of people think Dom should have been considered for USMNT head coach. And BB should definitely try to bring him on as assistant coach.
Born in ny, from littleton. Played at Regis HS.
where in CO exactly is he from? wiki says he is from NY.
Mullan is also a local boy
Rapids front office are showing some real acumen. Two very good moves!
It will be sad to see Mel go, my group of friends always thought Clark looked like a young Mel Gibson(perhaps a less flattering nickname now than a few years ago).
Hopefully Mullen still has some time in him and fits into the lineup immediately. I’d hate this for this to be another instance of the rapids throwing away youth for old guys that don’t contribute.(Noonan was a disaster, and Lopez for whatever reason hasn’t got the playing time to make the impact he was supposed to)
Is this the way the allocation went? According to MLSinsiderblog it seemed the allocation went to Colorado?
I think nxt yr season going to be interesting with colorado building. Houston building them getting w.c dp. Red bullls 1st full season with rafa and henry. Two new teams. La galaxy probaly getting dinho. Should be fun. Looking fwd to it.
I like how everyone kisses Kinnear’s rear end and extols his amazing coaching ability. So…umm….how do you explain not upgrading the team after he’s lost DeRo, Clark and Holden? How do you explain a manager of such proported “awesomeness” going into the season with such a lame roster that was clearly not capable of winning? It’s not like he told everyone it was a rebuilding year. He thought he could win with this team. Where was his coaching genius on April 1?
$100,000 is what i read on chron.com
I love Mullan’s hustle, heart and 1v1 abilities. Tough to see him leave. He’ll be missed here in Houston.
key factor*
How much money did we get for Mullan? That should be the ket factor in this deal.
Wow! As a Rapids fan this trade is a little harder to swallow since Colin Clark is a local boy and a fan favorite. He’s definitely proven to be injury prone in the last couple of years but I only wish Colin the best.
In regards to the Rapids, I like the fact that they are being active and trying to improve their roster for the playoffs. I just hope they are the right trades for the team to move forwards not backwards… Time will tell.
I really like this trade for Colorado. It shows that Coach Smith and the Rapids office is focused on immediate results. Maybe Kandji and Mullan won’t be the answer in the long run, but I think they can give Colorado a boost in the next few games. As a Rapids fan I’m happy to see that the Rapids are taking chances.
A bonus is that we didn’t lose too much in the process. An injured Colin Clark, waiving Holody, and some cash isn’t a bad deal. I’m in the small group of people that actually liked Ballouchy. He did well in the 4-3-3, but ultimately it was too little too late.
This season has shown Dom Kinnear that he has to completely rebuild the team in Houston. The 2010 version of the Dynamo just could not get it done without Holden and Ricardo Clark. If anyone can successfully rebuild the team it’s Kinnear.
This is fantastic for the Dynamo. Definately a steal… A revamped Dynamo, world class DP, and a new stadium….watch out MLS
Sad to see Mullan go. Colorado, you have a baller in Mullan. Yes, he’s getting old but he gives 100% and leaves it all on the pitch. I hope Clark can stay healthy and help a soon to be rebuilt Dynamo in the coming years.
Carey Talley to RBNY.
I can’t help but think that Kinnear has pulled off another one of his magic trades that turns out awesome for the Dynamo. Man, I wish DCU’s front office had that kind of magic still.