Editor In Leaf
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Toronto Maple Leafs: Timothy Liljegren, Likely to Stay Put

By Andrew Boehmer

TORONTO, ON- SEPTEMBER 10 - Timothy Liljegren fires a shot as the the Toronto Maple Leafs Rookie team plays the Ottawa Senators Rookies in the 2017 Rookie Tournament at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. September 10, 2017. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON- SEPTEMBER 10 - Timothy Liljegren fires a shot as the the Toronto Maple Leafs Rookie team plays the Ottawa Senators Rookies in the 2017 Rookie Tournament at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto. September 10, 2017. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /
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Chances are that the Toronto Maple Leafs will have Timothy Liljegren stay in North America.

His other option is returning to Sweden to play, but that appears doubtful and it’s probably for the best so that the Toronto Maple Leafs can monitor him at close range.

According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, his team back in Sweden isn’t waiting for him to come home, which is good.

We’re going to get more into that article momentarily, but let’s just go over his options at this point in no particular order.

  1. Return to Sweden to play for Rogle Bandyklubb (BK)
  2. Stay in North America and play for the Toronto Marlies
  3. Make the jump to the NHL and play for the Leafs

Now, two of those options seem pretty logical and one is a little far-fetched, so I’ll let you discern for yourself.

Remember that patience is the name of the game.

Okay, now we can delve deeper into the Sportsnet article that’s linked above.

Development

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I’ve always carried the notion that having Liljegren stay put in Toronto to play for the Marlies would be best for his development to adjust to the smaller ice surface.

It really does play a difference in the game as the angles change, the pace picks up and you just lose space that you thought you had.

Anders Carlsson, the general manager for Rogle had a few things to say to Johnston over the phone in regards to Liljegren’s fate.

"We’ll be very happy if Timmy comes back to us. If not, we’ll be happy for him. He’s a great kid. It’s huge for us that a team like Toronto Maple Leafs wants to sign one of our young players.For some players, they need to maybe stay here (in Sweden) and develop their skills. But Timothy is very, very skilled so he has that (already). For him, I think it might be good to stay over there and learn how to play on the small ice."

Take a read through that entire article because I didn’t include all of his quotes.

Bottom Line

Here’s one piece of information that Johnston included and is worth noting, maybe you already knew it, but for those that didn’t.

Because Liljegren has already signed an entry level contract, the European transfer agreement permits his signing team (the Leafs) to place him directly to their AHL affiliate team for the fall.

Basically, Toronto has all the power to decide Liljegren’s fate for this upcoming season and beyond.

The bottom line is that training camp is upon us and then preseason, so we’ll know pretty soon where we’ll see this young player play.

Next: Changing of the Guard

Exciting time of year, eh?

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