If the Toronto Maple Leafs thought they could trade Timothy Liljegren, they were sadly mistaken.
After two games of inexplicably scratching their only defenseman with any upside at all, the Toronto Maple Leafs clearly do not have six better options to use.
And, that should have been obvious to everyone before hand. This entire Liljegren Saga is one of the dumbest things in Leafs history, which is saying a lot.
Why in the hell would a team with such an old, average blue-line be so dead-set against playing a player who provides them with everything they don't otherwise have? For instance: a puck-moving right-hander, a defenseman with upside, and a puck-mover who can also defend.
After 2 games, it's extremely obvious that the Leafs need Timothy Liljegren
After watching the Leafs for 120 minutes this week, the main thing they seem to need is better puck-movement from their blue-line. I say this because despite playing a great game and a bad one (and winning the opposite ones) their stars do not look dangerous and they do not look like a team that can rush the puck.
This might be because Tanev and McCabe play half the minutes and are, at best, extremely average at moving the puck (Tanev is slightly above average, McCabe way below). Rielly hasn't looked great and is obviously in decline.
OEL has been their best offensive defenseman after two games, but Liljegren is clearly and definitely superior to him at this point in their careers.
As for the bottom pairing, if Berube is half the coach he's been made to be, we will never see it again. In game one, the Leafs had the puck all night and dominated from the top of their lineup all the way to the bottom.
But in game two, the Benoit/ Timmins pairing was exposed. In 11 minutes of 5v5 ice-time, the Leafs third pairing had just a 31% puck-possession rating. That is not acceptable. The scoring chances were 8-3 New Jersey, and they posted a sub-40% Expected Goals Rating.
The Leafs don't have a deep enough blue-line to ditch Liljegren, and their treatment of him has been abhorrent. He has 196 games, over three seasons, where he wins his minutes both by goals and by expected goals.
The Toronto Maple Leafs better have someone in their organization who can point this out because their blue-line remains their biggest weakness, despite Treliving's ill-advised obsession with size.
My message to the entire Toronto Maple Leafs organization is this: Play Liljegren, you're embarrassing yourselves.