VANCOUVER - On what might have been the ugliest day of the fall so far, a Monday in which Whitecaps players did end-of-season fitness testing in a driving rain, striker Darren Mattocks proclaimed his love for Vancouver.

But does the 24-year-old Jamaican have a future on the Wet Coast?

The No. 2 overall MLS SuperDraft pick in 2012 was the Caps’ second-leading goal scorer in 2014, but with just six goals and three assists on a $232,000 price tag. In 71 games over three seasons in Vancouver he has only 16 goals, his wild misses — accompanied by that signature look to the heavens, his hands over his face in disbelief — earning more notoriety than his actual tallies.

Down the stretch, he basically became a high-priced substitute.

With the Caps looking to add a couple of more consistent, pure goal-scorers this off-season, they will almost certainly try to trade Mattocks, who has two club-option years left on the deal he signed out of the University of Akron, or simply expose him in the Dec. 10 expansion draft.

Mattocks, who will have his exit interview with head coach Carl Robinson and management either Tuesday or Wednesday, almost certainly knows that. Yet, asked if a change of scenery would benefit his career, he evaded the question.

“Vancouver is a great city. I love Vancouver, I love playing in this city.”

Really? Mattocks’ bouts of laziness and sulking don’t make him a good fit here. In a self-serving interview on Jamaican TV a year ago this month, he railed against the club for “jeopardizing” his career by cutting his playing time in 2013 and refusing to sell him, insisting there were interested buyers in MLS and England.

Still, he managed a smile and a little chuckle Monday.

Asked about speculation that he won’t be protected in the expansion draft, he grinned and said: “Speculation, that’s all it is. I’m not going to worry about what people are speculating.”

He said he had no immediate plans to head home to Jamaica. So, no plans then for any Jamaican TV interviews?

“Ha, ha, that’s a good one.”

Mattocks isn’t the only former top draft pick to have his last laugh in Vancouver.

Omar Salgado, the No. 1 overall pick in 2011, is back from Mexico, where the petulant forward was banished to several weeks ago after another training ground incident. He’ll have his exit meeting this week, but his final exit seems all but assured.

“I’ll sit down with Omar and we’ll chat about it,” Robinson said of a 21-year-old who has played just 29 games over four seasons because of injuries and immaturity. “If he feels it’s right and we’ll feel it’s right for us to part ways, we will.

“I want to help him, personally. He wants to play football and the one thing I’ll never do is stop players going to play football somewhere.”

Robinson has a huge week ahead. He needs to determine if he can re-sign key veterans in centre back Andy O’Brien, 35, and midfielder Mauro Rosales, 33, both of whom may have to take pay cuts from their $280,000 and $450,000 salaries, respectively, and, in O’Brien’s case, accept a reduced role.