By Aaron Nielson (@enbsports)

After a poor 2017 season, Montreal has added both youth and talent to their roster. Unfortunately, it has been matched by an even greater exodus of talent. The Impact will certainly look different in 2018, but they probably won't look any better.

2017 in Review

A year ago in my preview I called Montreal the most under-the-radar club in MLS. Going into 2018 this is even more true, partly because of the disappointing season for the Impact in 2017. They missed the playoffs and finished ninth in the East, which encouraged hands-on owner Joey Saputo to start a rebuild. That process began with the firing of manager Mauro Biello at the end of the 2017 season.

Despite not making the playoffs in 2017, ASA's expected goals model suggests Montreal was quite lucky to finish the season with only a -5 goal differential, as our xGD had them closer to -14, tied for third worst in the league. A major part of this xG discrepancy was because of the 17 goals scored by Montreal's best player, Ignacio Piatti, which was 7.65 more than his expected goals. That was the biggest difference for any player in 2017, a stat that becomes even more worrying when you account for the fact that Piatti was also one the of highest goalscorers in terms of unassisted goals (33.8% of his shots were unassisted). If Montreal wishes to compete in 2018 they need Piatti to continue to generate goals for himself at an elite level.

Offseason Changes

The Impact have replaced Biello with Remi Garde, a former France international and Lyon, Strasbourg and Arsenal player. Garde has also coached at a high level, managing Lyon when they won the Coup de France, and taking over during traumatic time at Aston Villa, where he won only three games in 23 and was fired before the club was relegated.

Garde has a reputation as a strategic thinker, although there is also criticism that he comes off well as a TV football pundit, but doesn't have what it takes as an actual coach. One thing that may help him is his friendship with with his former French national teammate and NYCFC manager Patrick Vieira. They were brought into Arsenal at the same time, and despite similar concerns regarding Vieira, he's had a successful time in the league. The Impact are hoping Garde will have equal success.

Montreal made big changes in terms of player personal, with 12 players leaving and ten new players (so far) brought in. As one of the oldest teams in the league in 2017, the Impact saw four players retire this past off-season: Patrice Bernier, Hassoun Camara, Andres Romero and Eric Kronberg. The youth movement continued as they got younger by trading Laurent Ciman to LAFC and declining the option of Hernan Bernardello. They also lost some players for reasons outside of their control, with Blerim Dzemaili returning to Italy, Ambroise Oyongo signing with French Ligue 1 side Montpellier, and young prospect Ballou Tabla leaving for Barcelona (yes that Barcelona).

In the defense they've added centerback Zakaria Diallo from France's Ligue 2 and fullbacks Jukka Raitala, Michael Petrasso and Raheem Edwards. To help Piatti and create some additional offense, Montreal brought in Jeisson Vargas and Saphir Taider as their most high profile signings this offseason.

ROSTER EXPECTATIONS