The Toronto Maple Leafs have one more game left in October tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. If they can win the game against their divisional rival, they will finish this month with a 4-4-1 record.
Considering the Toronto Maple Leafs three game run against the Sharks, Penguins and Hurricanes, that is a decent finish to the opening month of this NHL season. If they lose to the Red Wings on Saturday, Leafs fans might start demanding trades again.
Toronto’s second defense pairing of Justin Holl and Jake Muzzin are receiving a large amount of the blame, for the Leafs poor defensive start to the season. (Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)
With the pair’s recent struggles, now should be the time for Timothy Liljegren to get a decent look. Liljegren has only played in two games so far this season. The team should find a way to give him a stretch of three to five games to show what he can do.
Toronto Maple Leafs Need To Give Liljegren A Chance
Liljegren has only played a total of 15 NHL games over parts of three seasons. He has never received a chance to play long enough to develop any consistency at the NHL level.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe needs to find a way to rotate Liljegren into the lineup more often. Liljegren is more than just a spare part to be used only when the team plays back-to-back games.
Holl and Muzzin do not deserve the 19+ minutes they are getting every game with the way they’ve been playing. Keefe should sit Holl for a while Liljegren a four to six-game stretch to try and find more consistency.
Toronto management and coaching staff need to know what they have in Liljegren, and the only way to find out is to play him. He needs to have a few stretches of three games here and five games there. I think 30 games this season would be ideal for a better understanding of what exactly Toronto has in him.
Liljegren’s Future With The Team
Liljegren becomes a restricted free agent (RFA) after this season, along with Rasmus Sandin. Sandin has already earned regular playing time, unlike Liljegren. Unless another defenseman like Holl, Muzzin, or Travis Dermott gets traded, the Toronto Maple Leafs might not be able to re-sign both Sandin and Liljegren.
Toronto just recently signed defenseman Morgan Rielly to an eight-year extension with a $7.5 million cap hit. That currently leaves them with just $5.385 million in available cap space for next season. The team also has goaltender Jack Campbell to re-sign this off-season.