If 2016 was an up-and-down year, full of injuries, player returns and off-field disturbances, then 2017 may very well be about building a new direction for the NWSL’s Seattle Reign. 

Former 2014 league MVP Kim Little was transferred to Arsenal, captain Keelin Winters has retired and there are still questions about Hope Solo’s future. Now the club has announced that Kendall Fletcher, a defensive starter, will not return to the team for the upcoming season. 

Here's a thing the Guardian reported that caused a round of chuckling to be heard through our office. It was just me chuckling, but it could be heard throughout the office.

On Thursday the NWSL held their fifth college draft in Los Angeles, California. In a week that saw two of the ten franchises change hands to new ownership, the focus shifted back to the players. 

Notable events and stats from the draft: 

The Boston Breakers had five of the first eleven picks in the draft, as they look to rebuild their last-place team from 2016. 

USC had three players taken in the first round, and five overall from the total of 40 draft picks. They claimed the school’s second national title in 2016. 

As the NWSL moves toward the start of the 2017 season, the Seattle Reign have announced another signing. Typically, that is standard news for this time of the year. However, with the new player being a keeper, and looking at the rest of the roster, where does that leave Hope Solo’s future? 

Norwegian prodigy Martin Odegaard joined Real Madrid two years ago at the age of 16, and having failed so far to break into Madrid's first team, the 18-year-old midfielder is going on loan to Heerenveen in the Netherlands. 

After only two first-team appearances in two years, Odegaard will benefit from regular action against top division professionals.

The loan is reportedly for 18 months, and Odegaard will not be 20 years old yet at the end of it. There's room to grow here.

It’s been a rough six months for Italian international Simone Zaza. His infamous penalty miss against Germany at Euro 2016, when he approached the ball like a duck at a discotech, has become a burden that he says he’ll carry forever. 

via GIPHY

The NWSL could use a positive headline in the next few weeks. First, the NWSL lost its biggest star in Alex Morgan, who is moving to play at Lyon through the summer. Her parent club, the Orlando Pride, will open their brand new stadium without their biggest attraction. 

Replacing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his 2015-16 tally of 44 goals for Paris St-Germain was always going to be impossible, but the club couldn’t have foreseen the transition being this painful. The numbers indicating the decline of PSG’s attack are staggering: last season, they scored 102 league goals. This year, they’re on pace for 76.

While the defense has already surrendered 15 goals at the halfway point of the season as compared to 19 throughout the entirety of 2015-16, it’s the lack of offensive firepower that is clearly troubling owners Qatar Sports Investments.

Crystal Dunn is one of the most explosive players in the USWNT player pool and has been one of the best players in the NWSL in the past few seasons.

Now she's heading to England to play for Chelsea, following USWNT teammate Alex Morgan (at Lyon in France) to Europe.

Thank you @crysdunn_19 for everything you have done for the Spirit over the past three seasons. You will be missed in 2017!  pic.twitter.com/0RZTJPm6OX

For the past few years Alex Morgan has been the face of the women’s game. Not just the United States Women’s National Team, or the NWSL, but the entire sport. Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd and Megan Rapinoe have all been major stars for past two World Cup cycles, as well as newsworthy, but Morgan is the most marketable star on the USWNT, the player advertisers want, young players are admiring and the face of the league.