10 potential breakout players for the 2018 MLS season

9. Tyler Miller, LAFC

The Vegas Golden Knights, the best team in the NHL’s Western Conference, set the standard for what an expansion team in sports can do. In a league with a hard salary cap and enforced parity, they used the (admittedly forgiving) resources the NHL gave them to build a young team of unproven outcasts with chips on their shoulders. Against all odds, they rapidly rose to the league’s top tier.

Even in MLS, where teams can go overseas and buy great players whether they’ve played a game or not, that same blueprint has to be used by new clubs, to their chosen extent. Atlanta United had their crew of expensive internationals, but they also had Jeff Larentowicz, Michael Parkhurst and Alec Kann. Free agency and the expansion draft present opportunities to sign these types of unwanted veterans and younger throwaways.

LAFC signed plenty of big-time names — Bob Bradley will coach them and Carlos Vela will lead the attack — but they will have their own set of Larentowicz types. Most notable of them could be Tyler Miller, the 24-year-old expansion draft goalkeeper.

Miller spent the last two years as Stefan Frei’s backup in Seattle, making three appearances, including a clean sheet in the first leg of the conference finals. He will compete with Honduran Luis Lopez for the starting job. His cheap contract allows LAFC to spend elsewhere, and given the promise he showed in limited MLS minutes, it’s a worthy investment for LA.

He might just be the next Alec Kann. Or Malcom Subban.