Timothy Liljegren
As one of the Maple Leafs up-and-coming defenseman for the past few seasons, there were high hopes that Timothy Liljegren would evolve and ultimately become a top-four pairing rearguard in the NHL.
After all, he was once predicted to go first overall in his draft year and had drawn comparisons to star fellow countryman Erik Karlsson with regards to his skating, playmaking ability and offensive prowess.
Looking back, it actually ended up taking a little while until finally Liljegren became a mainstay on the Leafs defensive corps. It was not until he was finally paired with veteran Mark Giordano did Liljegren begin to advance his game both offensively and defensively.
Last season, he recorded his career high in assists with 20, along with tying his career-high in points with 23 in just 55 games played. His strong performance also rewarded him with some playing time in the top two pairings over the course of the year, giving the Leafs hope that he may be maturing into a top-four option soon.
However, Liljegren has found himself in Berube’s doghouse to start the 2024-25 season. After being a staple in the top-six in the back end for each of the past three seasons, he has now been a healthy scratch in all but one game so far this year.
It also didn’t help that in the one game that he did appear in, he posted a horrendous 9% CF%, 6% expected goals % and 11% SCF% in the 11-plus minutes he played in 5-on-5 situations. That automatically earned him a spot in the pressbox in the immediate game that followed.
With a salary cap hit of $3 million AAV per season, along with his sparing usage to date, Liljegren appears to be a strong candidate to be traded within the coming weeks. In doing so, he would get back his playing time and a chance to revitalize his career, while the Leafs would be able to capitalize on his talents and receive a precious asset or two in return to help the club.