Open Net: Free Agent Goalkeepers A Massive Opportunity For CPL Teams

The Canadian Premier League is entering the offseason facing an unprecedented chance for major movement among its top goalkeepers.

At press time, just two of the league’s eight clubs have a first-choice goalkeeper locked in to return: Pacific with Sean Melvin, and Vancouver FC with Callum Irving. For everyone else, some big questions will test the mettle of their club’s back office and their ability to recruit smartly in Canada’s salary cap league.

It’s already known that Cavalry captain Marco Carducci will be moving on after seven seasons at ATCO Field, while title-winning Atletico Ottawa captain Nate Ingham will see his contract expire at the end of the year. Forge’s Jassem Koleilat is on the same boat, which means we could see all three CPL powerhouse clubs shuffle their shotstoppers.

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Out east, Halifax also holds a club option on Rayane Yesli, who would surely be a primary target for Quebecois expansion side FC Supra. Their ambition to build a team of entirely in-province talent leaves their talent pool for goalkeepers relatively compact. If they convince Yesli of the project, they’ll then have to convince Halifax and its new general manager Vanni Sartini to let him go, too.

Yesli’s eight clean sheets in league play is less than Ingham and Koleilat, but is one more than free agent Marco Carducci. Of course, as of right now, there’s no telling if any of the above will actually be playing in Canada next year, or if Yesli is part of Sartini’s vision out east.

Inter Toronto FC saved salary cap space last season by loaning Mexican goalkeeper Diego Urtiaga, who limited young Ivan Pavela to nine appearances for the final campaign of the Nine Stripes era. They’ve already made a statement signing in Ollie Bassett, so it’ll be interesting to see how their goalkeeper recruitment pans out for ’26.

Several players have told us that being based in Toronto is in itself a fairly good selling point, and with the club partnering with a luxury condominium rental sponsor, the Pasquels are teeing up a good package for potential signings.

There are a number of domestic understudies whose futures remain uncertain on the backstage, too: Halifax’s Aiden Rushenas and Cavalry’s Joseph Holliday are on expiring deals, while Forge’s Dino Bontis and Ottawa’s Tristan Crampton are waiting to hear about as-of-yet undecided club options.

In short, there’s an unprecedented amount of roster uncertainty between the sticks for ’26.

The offseason only gets more intriguing when looking at who could be coming from outside of the league: Triston Henry wasn’t mentioned in Phoenix Rising’s end-of-season roster update, and his lack of game time indicated his spell in Arizona is probably over, though its unclear if a return to Canada would work out for him given his initial reasons for a dramatic stateside move.

Journeyman goalkeeper Simon Thomas will see his Tromso contract expire at the year’s end as well, and he’s a name that has ‘return to home soil’ potential all over it: at 35, he’s a veteran who has spent the last ten years in Norway, though the Victoria native had previously represented the Whitecaps, FC Edmonton, and even did an exhibition series with the Calgary Foothills.

One cannot overlook Whitecaps prospect Max Anchor either, who was just loosed from the club after two seasons on a first-team deal. This year saw him undergo a loan to Pacific from which he was recalled due to lack of game time, setting up a potentially spicy matchup if he signs for a different club and faces the Tridents. It’d be easy to see CF Montreal’s Emil Gazdov set on another loan spell given his club has four ‘keepers on the books, too.

Former Valour goalkeeper Eleias Himaras is currently free agent, with the HFX Football Post reporting he’s drawn interest from multiple sides. Himaras, a former Canada U-17 keeper, is likely a salary cap-friendly option who can fight for being number one, but isn’t unaccustomed to sharing game time, either.

Even if the powerhouse trio of Carducci, Koleilat, and Ingham wind up in a whirl of intra-league transfers, the ramifications of those moves will shake things up significantly as we head into 2026, and that spells great entertainment for fans. It’ll also give their former sides a big opportunity to step up for a replacement – something Forge already did well when it recruited Koleilat following the exit of glove winner Triston Henry in ’24.

This offseason has the potential to change up the status quo between the sticks for the Canadian Premier League’s eight teams, representing a huge test for each club’s recruitment prowess. At face value, it’s exciting to see what clubs might step up a few rungs in terms of ‘keeper recruitment and what that might mean for the power rankings come 2026.

Header Image Photo Credit: John Jacques