In the goalkeeper department, there's no doubt that Zack Steffen will be the main man in goal. Steffen had an incredible postseason run that helped the Crew within a game of reaching the finals. Steffen will be backed up by Jon Kempin, who should be serviceable in a pinch but isn't in the long-term plans.

The defense looks to be set with Harrison Afful and Valenzuela manning the fullback positions. Jonathan Mensah will continue to anchor the defense at centerback. It's expected that Josh Williams will partner with Mensah, but it shouldn't be a surprise to see Alex Crognale and Lalas Abuakar get minutes there too. They brought back the oft-injured Gaston Sauro, who is still recovering but will factor in as well.

The midfield will keep some familiar faces. Wil Trapp is the captain and a definite starter in the defensive midfield spot. Artur should be lining up next to him, but recently acquired Ricardo Clark could be pushing for minutes too. Federico Higuain will once again pull the strings of the attack in the #10 spot, with DP Pedro Santos flanking him. Cristian Martinez should be the starter to open the season, but Mike Grella and Eduardo Sosa will push for time once the season gets going.

The striker position will a bit thin, it looks like Zardes will be the expected starter, but he may slide out wide to make room for traditional target man Adam Jahn, depending on the game state.

2018 Prognosis

The Crew certainly enjoyed a magical post season run in 2017, fueled by the uncertainty of the club's future and using #SaveTheCrew as their rallying point. However, losing the offensive firepower of both Meram and Kamara during the off-season will be difficult to replace. There's hope and expectations that head coach Gregg Berhalter has developed a system that will put Zardes in a position to be a scoring threat in the league again. Higuain is now 33, and the team will go where he goes. At his age the question isn't so much his vision and creativity, but rather how his legs will hold up over the course of the season.

It's difficult to see how the Crew do better than their 5th place finish in 2017 given they have seemingly have downgraded their attacking options. Still, this team did surprise everyone in the post season, so there is a chance that they can parlay that into a strong performance in 2018. But if Zardes struggles, and the continued uncertainty as to whether this team will even exist in 2018, there are genuine concerns that the Crew could finish below the red line.