The New York Breakers will not be able to retain stars Marco Koch or Kasia Wasick, who do not appear on the team’s protection pool list.
What does the ‘Protected List’ Mean?
This week, the ISL will be announcing each team’s “protected” athletes: effectively, the pool from which each team will be retaining athletes as part of the draft process. To be clear: these are not the lists of athletes that a team will protect; rather, it is the group from which the team will choose up to 15 to protect, and from which fans will pick 1 additional swimmer to protect.
That means the new information will tell us two big things: which athletes have declined or refused to return to their former teams (which is something the league is, apparently, allowing), and which athletes are being given special exceptions after skipping the 2020 season and being allowed to return to their 2019 teams. Also excluded are athletes who didn’t register for the 2021 ISL season.
DRAFT PROCESS IN BRIEF
- On June 21, teams will announce the first 5 athletes that they will retain from their 2021 rosters.
- On June 28, teams will announce up to 10 additional athletes that they will retain from their 2021 rosters. After that, there will be a public vote for a 16th athlete that each team will retain from their 2021 rosters.
- On June 29, teams will draft the remainder of their rosters, with the lowest finishing teams from last year’s season getting advantageous draft positions.
- Click here to read a more detailed description of the draft.
This group of “protected” athletes are not yet actually retained. Today’s lists show the athletes who have “confirmed their commitment to remain on their current team if selected by the team’s General Manager or if elected by the fans online, during the ISL Draft.” That means teams can essentially choose to retain athletes from these lists.
An athlete who doesn’t agree to stay with their team from last season will enter the draft pool as a rookie. Unretained athletes from this list will enter the draft pool as a veteran.
We also ran through each team’s roster in the spring for a very early look at who each team should try to retain. You can read that story below:
- Analysis: Who should each ISL team retain for 2021?
- Final list of 940 names registered for ISL Draft Pool
Toronto Titans Protected Swimmers
| TORONTO TITANS |
| Alberto Razzetti |
| Alexander Krasnykh |
| Andriy Govorov |
| Anika Apostalon |
| Anna Egorova |
| Anton McKee |
| Blake Pieroni |
| Brent Hayden |
| Candice Hall |
| Cole Pratt |
| Daniil Pasynkov |
| Erik Persson |
| Finlay Knox |
| Jay Lelliot |
| Jhennifer Alves Conceicao |
| Julie Meynen |
| Kayla Sanchez |
| Kelsey Wog |
| Kylie Masse |
| Lisa Bratton |
| Louise Hansson |
| Michael Chadwick |
| Michelle Coleman |
| Sergey Fesikov |
| Shane Ryan |
| Tayla Lovemore |
| Tessa Cieplucha |
| Yuri Kisil |
Notes:
- The big news for Toronto is that Kayla Sanchez is both registered for the league, and included on this protection list. Sanchez was a standout for Energy Standard in the league’s first season, finishing #13 in overall scoring. She was announced to Toronto’s roster last season, but withdrew and eventually had shoulder surgery in September. She should be a high-priority retainee.
On the flip side, Italian Alberto Razzetti was announced to the Titans roster last year, but withdrew from the ISL. He is among the 940 athletes registered for the league in 2021, but does not appear on this Titans protection pool list. One of the two remaining teams that will reveal protection pools tomorrow is the Italy-based Aqua Centurions, who might have a geographic ‘in’ with Razzetti.- Update: The Titans have confirmed that Razzetti was an accidental omission on the list sent out by the ISL. Razzetti is part of the protection pool for the Toronto Titans for 2021.
- There aren’t many surprises here – outside of Razzetti, every swimmer from last year’s roster who is registered for 2021 appears on this list. But there is a big group of swimmers from the 2020 Titans roster not registered for the league in 2021. That includes Rebecca Smith, Jocelyn Ulyett, Claire Fisch, Emily Overholt, Anastasia Fesikova, Elijah Wall and Mack Darragh.
New York Breakers Protected Swimmers
| NY BREAKERS |
| Jacob Whittle |
| Arina Surkova |
| Joe Litchfield |
| Alicja Tchórz |
| Sarah Vasey |
| Brandonn Almeida |
| Michał Poprawa |
| Ajna Késely |
| Svetlana Chimrova |
| Michael Andrew |
| Daria Ustinova |
| Chloe Golding |
| Daria Ustinova |
| Lewis Clareburt |
| Molly Renshaw |
| Brendon smith |
| Felix Auboeck |
| Abbie Wood |
| James Wilby |
| Emily Escobedo |
| Jakub Skierka |
| Mikkayla Sheridan |
| Abbie Harkin |
Notes:
- The Breakers pool is pretty small at 23 athletes – that means the team will have the opportunity to retain all but seven of these swimmers.
- The pool is small because a lot of 2020 roster members are registered to the league, but apparently not an option for the Breakers to retain. Easily the biggest two names are Marco Koch and Kasia Wasick, who were the teams #2 and #6 scorers, respectively, in 2020.
- Others registered for the league but not on the Breakers protection pool list: Boglarka Kapas, Adam Telegdy, Chloe Golding, Damian Wierling, Jan Switkowski, Matt Richards, Signe Bro.
- New York had several Australians named to the roster who missed last season amid the pandemic. Cameron McEvoy isn’t registered for the league in 2021. Matthew Temple is registered, but not on the Breakers protection list.
- Jakub Skierka was not on the 940-person list of athletes registered for the league. But he does now appear on the Breakers list, meaning it appears he has been added to the ISL list late.