Aurelien Collin and Patrick Mullins are stepping up after being traded earlier in the season, while Didier Drogba is struggling to re-create his first-year success.
As much attention as high-profile signings can generate in Major League Soccer, it can be easy to ignore how important midseason trades can wind up being.
Nicolas Lodeiro's revival of the Seattle Sounders is well documented, and deserves plenty of credit as a stroke of genius, but some of the season's trades have paid off massively for teams in the thick of the playoff race.
Perhaps no deal has been more impactful than the New York Red Bulls' trade for Aurelien Collin.