Folks, I cannot even begin to tell you how good it feels to be writing about Toronto Maple Leafs hockey again.
Early-September rookie tournament? Sign me up! Seriously, sign me up. I really miss hockey.
If nothing else, what this year’s rookie tournament should serve as is a reminder of just how far this franchise has travelled in such a short period of time.
As recently as two years ago, the rookie tournament was nevertheless perceived to be one of the hottest tickets on the Leafs’ calendar. With nothing of particular note worth investing in at the NHL level, a prospect showcase functioned as one of the few can’t miss events.
The present was bleak. Then again, if everything broke right, maybe the future wouldn’t be.
Fast forward to 2018, and we live in a completely age. More reporters were on hand at the Leafs’ practice facility over the weekend for an informal pre-training camp skate than there were attending the festivities in Laval.
Success is finally at arms length. And while the focus may be on the matters at hand, the Leafs will indeed require a wave of young prospects – and their ELC cap hits – to sustain long-term success.
Let’s see how they did.
The Good & Bad of Timothy Liljegren
It’s easy to gain a warped perspective of Timothy Liljegren. He’s not a typical prospect.
Carrying himself in a manner akin to someone much farther along in their developmental curve, Liljegren noticeably stands out when contrasted with his peers, both in terms of skill and, experience.
As Liljegren entered into what was only his second rookie tournament on Saturday, he did so with a full season of productive AHL service already tucked under his belt. Few 2017 draftees could say the same.
And yet, don’t let that cloud you.
Until as recently as this past April, Liljegren was still unable to legally buy a drink in Canada and, despite his immediate success since being drafted, can’t help but exhibit a collection of the typical highs and lows seen in blue-chip teenaged prospects.
Both ends of the spectrum were on display this weekend.
As Liljegren indeed made some of the less-than-encouraged decisions nonetheless expected from a developing defenceman, it appeared, at times, that he was perhaps even experimenting with what would work against competition in his own age range.
Keep in mind, Liljegren has been a minimum of 16 months younger than his most youthful opponent for nearly the entirety of his North American career. The World Juniors were the most recent time he faced off against an opposition sharing his birth year, and that was all the way back in December.
You can’t blame the kid for taking some risks.
Where Liljegren truly impressed, dropping some jaws in the process, was his speed.
Despite donning the label of “strong skater” and impressing as a puck mover from the back end, Liljegren really doesn’t possess much in the area of pure end-to-end speed, excelling instead via phenomenal lateral movement and the ability to transition on a dime.
It was Liljegren’s relative inability to win a footrace against AHL opponents last year that held him back as a rookie, as “get faster” sat right up alongside “get stronger” at the top of offseason buck list.
Well, it looks as if he took that list to heart.
That, my friends, is tangible progress.
Liljegren simply did not have the ability to do that 12 months ago. He just didn’t. Not only did he lack the necessary straightaway speed to turnstile that defender with ease, the confidence to even attempt that rush – during overtime, no less – in the first place, was absent in him as well. It’s funny how much can change in a summer.
Now at full health for the first time in what may be an entire calendar year, the strides Liljegren has taken in the areas of speed, poise, and attention to detail are incredibly impressive. Everyone has been aware of his proficiency as a puck mover for quite some time now, making the eye-popping stretch passes he put on display this weekend a more muted development.
Rather, what Liljegren exhibited, in one way or another, was improvement in practically every one of his areas of weakness. Not much more can be asked of from a prospect.
If this trajectory continues, the Leafs may finally have the RHD they’ve long hungered for.
Goon Show
Look, I’m aware that the rookie tournament is the first game action in months for all who attend it, and there’s an onus on standing out to impress the brass watching above, but the amount of general goonery on display this year was downright unacceptable.
There is simply no excuse to see headshots ever, let alone in what equates to a September friendly. It’s just not hockey. And, unfortunately, the Leafs were the biggest culprits of this, with two distinct instances of thoroughly boneheaded behaviour.
The first and arguably most egregious was this hit from Toronto’s Hudson Elyniuk on Montreal’s Jarrett Tyszaka.
There’s just no excuse for an action like that. And while Elyniuk’s hit was undoubtedly the most blatantly malicious of the tournament, I want to focus on another example instead.
It wasn’t too long ago when Andrew Nielsen’s name was uttered alongside Travis Dermott in a sentence pertaining to Toronto’s blueline hopefuls of the future. The pair of D-men were welcome additions to the organization at the time, both members of an impressive Leafs’ 2015 draft class who arrived possessing an array of enticing tools.
Today? Not so much.
As Dermott took a definitive step forward last season to ascend to full-time NHL duty, Nielsen took one back, oftentimes plunking down below each of his fellow defenders on the Marlies’ depth chart.
There are a few reasons for this lack of progress, namely his defensive inability, footspeed, and on-ice panic when in the general vicinity of a puck, but one stands above the rest; discipline.
Or rather, lack thereof, because Nielsen doesn’t have it.
The 143 totals minutes in penalties he racked up last season were more than double that of his next closest teammate. This is a real problem, one firmly holding the 21-year-old back from personal development.
For a prospect in such desperate need of using every available opportunity to prove himself as a potential NHLer, Nielsen spent the equivalent of more than 2 full games sitting in the penalty box.
How can anyone improve their on-ice potential when they’re never actually on the ice?
It pains me to say this, but Nielsen’s antics at the rookie tournament were largely par for the course. Watching the play, he enters the defensive zone trailing behind nearly all of the Senators’ forwards (not a great look for a defenceman) and proceeds to impart, or at least try to, some impact on the situation at hand to make up for it. Only, rather than performing an act of real value, he opts for throwing a careless elbow at the head of an opponent instead.
And so, here we are again.
In an event designed specifically to function as a showcase for year-to-year progress, Nielsen is absent from the action, forced to watch up close as he’s leapfrogged by teammates who make better decisions.
Not a great start to a make-or-break year.
Thanks for reading! Part two drops tomorrow.
Gifs and footage courtesy of RDS.