Toronto Maple Leafs: Timothy Liljegren Is Still Going to be a Very Good NHLer

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Timothy Liljegren 17th overall in 2017.

At the time, Toronto Maple Leafs fans went crazy because Liljegren had been ranked so high earlier in the year before contracting mono.

For a while, people acted as if the Leafs had gotten another top five pick, but then they drafted Sandin, everyone agreed Sandin was better, and now Liljegren is basically a dud.

Well not exactly, but you get my point – he’s definitely lost some of his shiny appeal.

It’s important to remember that people don’t really watch the AHL, most accolades are given out for offensive performance, and that in almost all cases, a hockey player’s reputation is inaccurate (try writing a blog based on statistics that go against public perception sometime haha!).

If we consider all these factors, perhaps we should still be pretty excited about Timothy Liljegren.

Toronto Maple Leafs Prospects

The weird thing about Liljegren, and his downward turn in perception is that it seems like the opposite should be happening.

He was once considered one of the best defenseman of his age to ever play in the AHL, and then last year he got top pairing minutes, despite not turning 20 until the end of the season.

The main reason I can find for this sudden downturn in popularity appears to be that in his rookie season, Liljegren scored 17 points, while last year he scored just 15.

Offense might not be the whole game, but when it comes to people’s perception of players, it might as well be.

But every account of his season I was able to read said the same thing: the Leafs didn’t  play him on the first power-play, and they emphasized his learning a defensive game.

He played top line minutes, and he was successful.  If you emphasize learning defense, it stands to reason that your offense might decrease; that you might make lower risk plays, and score less.

The Leafs had him focus on his two-way game, and he did it.  He played top pairing minutes for a winning team in a league where he was still one of the youngest players.

For a guy who missed 30 games in both his first two seasons, that seems like solid development.  Sandin put up nearly a point-per-game in the playoffs, so of course Liljegren will pale by comparison, but he does appear to be on track to be an above average NHL player.

He almost certainly would have been called up and made his debut last year if not for injury.

This year, he stands a good chance of cracking the opening night roster with Travis Dermott on the shelf and the Leafs having only three other good defensemen.

I think it’s still reasonable to hope he becomes a half-way decent NHL defenseman.  I think the “he won’t be a star” crowd is also the “play it safe and sound smart” crowd. (I mean, really, if you said “he won’t be a star” about every prospect, you’d be right 85% of the time).

I am not saying that he will be the next Morgan Rielly, but I do believe that Timothy Liljegren will be very good defensemen capable of playing on the top pairing of a contending team.

I believe he will be a star.