It is never easy to be a healthy scratch in the NHL, but for Timothy Liljegren, every game he sits in the press box could be among his last with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Despite signing a two-year contract extension in the off-season, the 25-year-old’s future is anything but certain, even though he made his season debut in the Leafs’ most recent game, a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Craig Berube initially described Liljegren’s performance as “fine” before telling reporters that he was “pretty solid.”
Liljegren’s stats after the game certainly didn’t jump off the page. He played 13:55, was penalized for a cross-check and the Leafs were out-attempted 20-2 and outshot 8-2 when he was on the ice. That’s not exactly flattering for someone who was playing in a sheltered role, but Liljegren is trying to get up to game speed and avoid making mistakes to stay in the lineup.
Toronto’s next game comes Saturday night against the New York Rangers, and a true measure of his game and place on the team might be found if he’s put into the lineup for a second straight outing.
When Berube took over as head coach, there were questions about whether a defenceman like Liljegren would be able to thrive with the demands of a more old-school coaching style.
As training camp progressed, it became clear that Liljegren was not providing what his coach was looking for.
“Lily’s gotta do things quicker. He’s got to be a little bit heavier in his battles, moving pucks quicker and simplify his game,” Berube explained at the time. “He’s obviously battling. He wants to be a guy in the lineup every night, and that’s great. But sometimes you put too much on your plate. Simplify the game a little bit more. And do your job as a defenceman killing plays and being heavy.”
Unfortunately for Liljegren, other defencemen, namely Conor Timmins, earned the coach’s trust, and once Liljegren was not included in the opening night lineup, trade speculation ramped up.
While Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Leafs are not in a rush to trade Liljegren and have stressed that the young defenceman remains patient for opportunities to play, there is still a timeline where some decisions will have to be made.
Right now, the Leafs don’t have a reason to trade Liljegren, and keeping him around adds some insurance if the blue line suffers injuries. However, the team has to eventually prepare for the salary and roster crunch that is coming.
Right now, the Leafs have $5.25 million on long-term injured reserve with Calle Jarnkrok, Jani Hakanpaa, Connor Dewar and Dakota Mermis sidelined. The team can gain some cap space by sending some players down to the minors, but eventually, someone’s salary will have to be moved off the books.
It would be tough to justify keeping Liljegren and his $3 million cap hit if he’s not going to be a regular in the team’s lineup.
This leads us to the obvious question… which teams would be the ideal trade destination for Liljegren?
Utah Hockey Club
It was clear that the Utah Hockey Club were looking to hit the ground running when the team left Arizona.
A couple of trades for Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino at the draft signalled that Utah was serious about being competitive. While there have been some great success stories so far, there are some concerns for Utah.
After losing its first game of the season earlier this week against the New Jersey Devils, the more concerning news was the injury to defenceman Sean Durzi.
The 26-year-old left the team’s game against the Devils with an upper-body injury and the diagnosis is not a positive one.
“It doesn’t look like he’s going to be back anytime soon,” GM Bill Armstrong told KSL Sports radio. “We’re going to have more young guys jump in and see what we can do here.”
In the team’s first game without Durzi against the Anaheim Ducks, Sergachev played 27:52, Ian Cole played 24:46, Juuso Välimäki logged 22:30 and Michael Kesselring played 21:38. That’s a lot of minutes for Utah’s top four defenders to grind through and it was in a losing effort.
To make matters worse, Marino has been unable to suit up and is expected to miss weeks with an upper-body injury.
It seems like the team might benefit from adding a defenceman who can help ease the burden on the blue line, especially one who can play on the right side.
Right now, Utah would be Toronto’s ideal trading partner, considering the team’s abundance of draft capital over the next two years plus an abundance of cap space to not even need to worry about Liljegren’s cap hit this season and next.
Dallas Stars
It is convenient that on the night Liljegren made his return to the lineup, Stars GM Jim Nill was reportedly in attendance to watch the Leafs play the Kings.
The Stars had an active off-season, but not in the way that anyone would label as exciting. After watching Chris Tanev and Hakanpaa leave to join the Leafs, Dallas went out and signed Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin to two-year deals well over $3 million.
Dallas is probably an ideal landing spot for Liljegren, given their lack of formidable options on the right side and Nils Lundkvist not living up to the expectations placed on him after being acquired for a first-round pick. Maybe Liljegren can earn some playing time on a Stars team that is a contender for the Stanley Cup, but would probably like to upgrade that blue line in some way.
Maybe this is where GM Brad Treliving has a conversation with Mark Leach, Toronto’s new director of amateur scouting, who spent the past 11 seasons with the Stars and might know a thing or two about their prospect pool.
Chicago Blackhawks
While the Blackhawks are in a rebuilding period with Connor Bedard, the team has to eventually start to look forward and push their way out of the basement of the NHL standings.
General manager Kyle Davidson already added a couple of Liljegren’s former teammates, Tyler Bertuzzi, T.J. Brodie, and Ilya Mikheyev, but he could use some depth on the right side of his defence.
Former first-round pick Kevin Korchinski was sent back to the AHL in hopes of developing his game, but for a team like Chicago, it would be more beneficial to use some of the draft capital on a player who can contribute now rather than roll the dice on a draft pick that may or may not turn out.
Defenceman Alec Martinez could be a player who gets moved ahead of the trade deadline, and Chicago has more than enough draft picks (some that actually originally belonged to Toronto) to entice the Leafs to move off of Liljegren.
The Blackhawks have the cap space to make a deal and could give some of their younger defencemen more time to develop in the AHL.
Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have been playing the long game the past few seasons in an attempt to retool the roster and reportedly made a big push to try and land some of the marquee free agents this past off-season.
If the Ducks can’t use the cap space to sign players, they might as well try to trade for some. The team also has some draft picks that could be in play if it wants to enter the Liljegren sweepstakes.
Cam Fowler’s future with the Ducks remains up in the air as the veteran looks to get back on to a contending roster. Meantime, Radko Gudas is the lone right-shot defender with experience on the blue line, and Liljegren can put himself in a favourable position to play a bigger role in Anaheim.
Trading away Jamie Drysdale also depleted a bit of the Ducks’ high-end depth on the blue line, and while Liljegren doesn’t have the same ceiling as Drysdale, he fits the direction Anaheim is trying to go.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas made it a point to trade for one of his former Leafs players in Michael Bunting, so what’s stopping him from trying to see if he can land another?
Well, for starters, the Penguins aren’t flush with cap space unless the team finds a way to shed some salary. On a hockey level, what better situation for Liljegren to play than under the tutelage of countryman Erik Karlsson?
Pittsburgh could use some immediate help on the blue line and actually has the draft picks necessary to consider Liljegren as a trade target.
If Dubas can find a way to create some cap space, he isn’t one to shy away from making a deal if it improves his club. This is not a Penguins team that wants to be on the outside looking in on the playoffs, and they also have many question marks and holes to solve in order to get there.
Honourable mention Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets mainly make sense as a destination because they need to add some salary and would be in a position to take a player like Liljegren as a rebuild project.
Columbus has over $21 million in cap space currently, but not a whole lot of draft picks that would be enticing in a trade unless there is a package with prospects the Leafs would consider.
from Sportsnet.ca
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