Toronto Maple Leafs to Get Their Best Defenseman Back Soon

The Toronto Maple Leafs are almost back at full strength.

Though the Toronto Maple Leafs have had many injuries since training camp started, other than Timothy Liljegren missing time with a hernia, those injuries haven’t really been detrimental to the team.

Sure, there are those who think the Leafs need to go out and replace Jake Muzzin, but those people probably don’t realize how much Muzzin had declined recently.  It’s a good bet that Muzzin would have been given away for free, or  even that the Leafs would have paid to get rid of him, if he would have waived  his no-trade clause.

They’ve said all the right things of course, but if you look at the numbers, the salary, the injury history, and especially the fact that Justin Holl did better last year without him,  if the Leafs are the evidence-based team they’ve shown themselves to be, then what I’m suggesting is the only thing that makes sense.

As sad as the injury is to Muzzin personally, it is an extremely fortunate break for the Leafs.  Muzzin was their oldest seeming, most injury prone, most expensive, liability.

Now they don’t have to count his cap hit.   Same with Matt Murray.  He went down, paving the way for Ilya Samsonov to excel.  So far so good.

Other injuries – Engvall, Benn, Dalhstrom…..not exactly hurting the Leafs.

But Timothy Liljegren? He was deployed last season in a way that made him one of the best defenseman in the NHL, and his loss has had a major impact. 

They are 4-3 without him, but he will make a big difference upon his return.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Will Soon Get Back Their Best Defenseman

Out of all defenseman in the NHL last year who played 800 minutes or more, Liljegren was 3rd in Expected Goals Percentage, just behind  McAvoy and Grzelcyk, and just ahead of Makar, Weegar, Reilly, Ekblad and Slavin. (All statsnaturalstattrick.com).

All of those players, except Liljegren, are either unanimously considered one of the best defensemen alive, or were partnered with one last year.

Except Timothy Liljegren, who was the Leafs best defenseman.

Sure, he was benched in the playoffs……and the Leafs promptly lost by a single goal.  Sitting your best defenseman and then losing by one goal is a bad look, but lucky for Sheldon Keefe, most people don’t realize who the Leafs best defenseman actually is.

And honestly, you can’t blame the coach for losing patience with a rookie with that amount of pressure coming down on him. Sure , it was ultimately the worst decision of Keefe’s career, and it may be the reason the Leafs failed to advance – we just don’t know, and never will.

But we can guess, and I would say it was a major factor in them losing.  A team should stick to its guns, even when the going gets tough, and the Leafs didn’t and it cost them.  The refs were a bigger factor though, and at the end of the day, the Leafs were the better team in that series regardless of sitting Liljegren.

Whatever. It’s ancient history.

Liljegren will be back soon, and when the Leafs have their best defenseman back in the lineup, they will likely start playing better and wining more games (though, if Matthews was scoring at even half his normal rate they’d likely have only the one loss and maybe not even that).