Ottawa Fury turn to USL to begin filling out ravaged roster

It's been a rough offseason thus far for Ottawa Fury FC, who performed far better than anyone could have imagined in 2015, and have been finding their squad picked apart as a result. The club have already watched their head coach and four key starters walk away from the Canadian side this winter, and probably aren't done saying goodbye to key parts quite yet.

The Fury did introduce Paul Dalglish as their new head coach several weeks ago, and as is often the case in situations like this, have turned to players that the coach has previously worked with to begin replacing some of the lost talent. This past week, Ottawa has announced a trio of new signings, two of which will be joining Dalglish from the Austin Aztex.

Lance Rozeboom and Fernando Timbo will both make the move from Texas to the capital of Canada, likely as direct replacements for several stars that have left for other NASL clubs. Rozeboom is capable of playing in defense or midfield, and would seem to be a logical replacement for Richie Ryan, who left for Jacksonville Armada FC. Meanwhile, Timbo can play either centerback or fullback, and was one of the better defenders in USL by all accounts last season.

The third signing, Dennis Chin, is likely going to replace Tom Heinemann, who left Ottawa to join the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Chin spent four seasons with Orlando City FC, before moving to Arizona United when the club made the jump to Major League Soccer. Chin's combination of size and speed make it easy to think he'll be an excellent replacement for Heinemann, though outside of 2012, the Jamaican has struggled to produce regular goals.

These three signing certainly all have the potential to be the sort of under the radar quality that propelled Ottawa to the Championship final in the first place, but it's still difficult to believe that these moves make this club into a playoff contender again in 2016. I guess we'll have to wait until this spring to see.