Speculation: Halloween could be scary for Robertson and Liljegren.

[Ianturnedbull]

I am not claiming to be an insider, but the salary cap will stress things with this roster.

Every insider has speculated some kind of potential trade due to players like Hakanpaa and Dewer returning from LTIR.

It seems to me that there's no interest in Liljegren. If they don't want to use assets or retain for a team to take him, then they should waive him.

Robertson has been showcased enough. He doesn't want to be in TOR, and he'll never crack this line-up. They'll likely get a lot less than a 2nd for him in a trade. He will likely get a chance with another team, but in TOR there are too many forwards ahead of him for him to see regular action.

Anyway, I'll open this up to a poll. What do you think will happen to each player?

Click to read more...

 

[Maplebeasts]

I mean they could be gone but you're wrong if you think the team is going to waive either of them. That would be IDIOTIC asset management.

 

[Fogelhund]

Premature overreaction thread.

Ironically.... My Dude. It's early.

 

[Voodoo Child]

I think both will be traded, Liljegren first and Robertson eventually.

Both return a 3rd or something.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Just the typical story of the Leafs. Robertson has shown every single time when he is put in positions to score he does, but we never once gave him any amount of top 6 time with any playmaker or even put him out on PP situations for longer than 30 seconds.

He'll go on and score 35 goals somewhere

 

[banks]

Robertson makes like league minimum, where as trading Liljegren would actually provide some cap relief. Robertson likely has little to no value around the league, where as Liljegren should easily return the same as Maatta got from Utah (3rd rounder). Robertson is only 23 and has shown some signs of improvement like in the preseason, where as Liljegren is 25 and looks like he's regressed since last year. The Leafs have long been desperate for affordable scoring depth that Robertson provides, where as the team has been moving away from the middling puck mover type defencemen like Liljegre is. The leafs don't have a whole lot of non-4th-line depth at wing (grebyonkin?) in the system, where as they have like 4 different players looking to take a spot from Liljegren (Timmins, Myers, Hakanpaa, Niemela).

Robertson remains.

Liljegren will be traded.

 

[CincoHolio]

Just the typical story of the Leafs. Robertson has shown every single time when he is put in positions to score he does, but we never once gave him any amount of top 6 time with any playmaker or even put him out on PP situations for longer than 30 seconds.

He'll go on and score 35 goals somewhere

He'll go on to score 35....in 3 years time, on a bottom dweller team. I fail to see why Robertson is so deserving of being handed a top 6 role on this team. If the Leafs need to put Robertson in the perfect spot for him to be even moderately effective then he's not the guy for this team or any contender for that matter. Young Phil Kessel he is not.

Robertson hasn't shown jack other than he's an entitled wannabe who only does 1 thing well and the jury is still out whether he can even do that 1 thing on a consistent basis, in the NHL.

He's nothing more than a homeless man's Jeff skinner at this point. He needs to produce now, not 2 years down the line.

 

[Gilmour1996]

Tre needs to go to Pimp School. You are not going to have many customers if your ladies are hidden away in a dark room where no one can see the goods for sale.

 

[LeafGrief]

I don't think either of them is waived before Christmas, but they should both be worrying about the waiver wire.

Liljegren is 25 years old, making 3m this year and next, and can't crack our lineup. He's a homegrown prospect for us, but he doesn't have a toolset or even the raw potential that other teams are salivating over. Especially with that contract, teams aren't going to give up assets for a question mark that they hope will develop into a 2nd pairing guy. He might pass waivers if he went on them today, he might get picked up because he's free. He's a mildly intriguing cap dump in a trade, but the emphasis here is that he's a cap dump.

Robertson is a 23 year old with 1 goal in 9 games this year, and doesn't have the game for bottom six hockey. He had a good year last year and that might get him claimed, but he's very much in that "dime a dozen 23 year old prospect" bin that pass through waivers every year. "No way this guy doesn't get claimed" is the rallying cry for this category of player.

Now, the fact that neither of these guys are worth anything in terms of assets means that the Leafs should get rid of them. Both of them have their potential and both of them can offer good depth to the team today. They can handle NHL minutes and you want guys with upside to serve as your depth pieces who can step up in the case of injury. But that's pretty much exactly what waiver wire players are. Young(ish) guys who seemed to have potential, but just never took the next step needed to cement themselves as pros. The odd waiver wire player will go on to have a successful career, and a few more give some good seasons to their team, but the vast majority are AHL and then Europe bound.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Premature overreaction thread.

Ironically.... My Dude. It's early.

Well it's early in that Halloween is tomorrow...

 

[VanW27]

Robertson makes like league minimum, where as trading Liljegren would actually provide some cap relief. Robertson likely has little to no value around the league, where as Liljegren should easily return the same as Maatta got from Utah (3rd rounder). Robertson is only 23 and has shown some signs of improvement like in the preseason, where as Liljegren is 25 and looks like he's regressed since last year. The Leafs have long been desperate for affordable scoring depth that Robertson provides, where as the team has been moving away from the middling puck mover type defencemen like Liljegre is. The leafs don't have a whole lot of non-4th-line depth at wing (grebyonkin?) in the system, where as they have like 4 different players looking to take a spot from Liljegren (Timmins, Myers, Hakanpaa, Niemela).

Robertson remains.

Liljegren will be traded.

This seems like the most reasonable guess. Regardless of fan opinion, or management even for that matter, Berube doesn't see Lilly as one of his 6 best dmen and there's another guy on the sidelines about to push him down another spot.

So for Berube he's at best #8, and he could be more like 9 or 10 on the depth chart with Myers and Rafai in the mix.

You can't have an 8/9/10 making 3 million. The only way he isn't moved is we run into some other injuries on the back end.

For Robby, he's cheap and he has no value. There's no reason to trade him.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

This seems like the most reasonable guess. Regardless of fan opinion, or management even for that matter, Berube doesn't see Lilly as one of his 6 best dmen and there's another guy on the sidelines about to push him down another spot.

So for Berube he's at best #8, and he could be more like 9 or 10 on the depth chart with Myers and Rafai in the mix.

You can't have an 8/9/10 making 3 million. The only way he isn't moved is we run into some other injuries on the back end.

For Robby, he's cheap and he has no value. There's no reason to trade him.

Good points here. The other factor is that Robertson keeps requesting a trade.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Just the typical story of the Leafs. Robertson has shown every single time when he is put in positions to score he does, but we never once gave him any amount of top 6 time with any playmaker or even put him out on PP situations for longer than 30 seconds.

He'll go on and score 35 goals somewhere

Like, in a single season? Or over x amount of years?

 

[Ianturnedbull]

On Robertson: As he's developed and come through the ranks, no GM has made concessions for him. The Leafs have continued to sign LWers or put others ahead of him.

On Liljegren: No pro scout or GM cares where/when he was drafted, if he's home grown/developed in the org., or if he plays on the Leafs. Fans care, but no one else does.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Like, in a single season? Or over x amount of years?

You are ignorant of the player if this a serious question

 

[All Mod Cons]

You are ignorant of the player if this a serious question

So Nick Robertson is a top 20 goalscorer in the NHL if given more ice time, in your opinion?

That seems like a ludicrous, albeit on brand, take.

 

[Rude Dog]

Both should be in the lineup.

 

[ULF_55]

So Nick Robertson is a top 20 goalscorer in the NHL if given more ice time, in your opinion?

Well he has scored the same number of goals so far this year as has ...
He also has a better On Ice - EV GD than ...

 

[Leafs87]

I don’t know what the hold up is, but it seems like Lil is immovable with his current just signed contract. If we have to ultimately retain or get a minimal return it’s an awful look on Brad for not just qualifying him or simply cutting ties

 

[sxvnert]

I don’t know what the hold up is, but it seems like Lil is immovable with his current just signed contract. If we have to ultimately retain or get a minimal return it’s an awful look on Brad for not just qualifying him or simply cutting ties

Or worse Tre needs to pay another team to take him off their hands. No doubt that second year @3m is a deal killer.

 

[arso40]

Or worse Tre needs to pay another team to take him off their hands. No doubt that second year @3m is a deal killer.

I think he’s easily tradable probably driving a bidding war right now wonder if we’ll regret this move

 

[HockeyVirus]

So Nick Robertson is a top 20 goalscorer in the NHL if given more ice time, in your opinion?

That seems like a ludicrous, albeit on brand, take.

Every season? IDK about that. Capable of that? Yes. He is a pure goal scorer everywhere he played. He has NEVER been given a shot with a legit playmaker and him in positions to score. He has always been asked to play a third line two way grind cycle game.

Like put him with Domi or Marner for a few games and if he still does nothing then fair enough. We have never leveraged his shot.

 

[capfit9]

Conditioning assignments incoming likely

 

[IronHookem]

If they want to trade Liljegren, they need to let him play a couple of games so that he can have a chance to show his potential. No one is going to want to touch him if he supposedly cant even earn a roster spot over Benoit & Timmins who hasn't exactly been great.

 

[Hellcat]

On Robertson: As he's developed and come through the ranks, no GM has made concessions for him. The Leafs have continued to sign LWers or put others ahead of him.

On Liljegren: No pro scout or GM cares where/when he was drafted, if he's home grown/developed in the org., or if he plays on the Leafs. Fans care, but no one else does.

Which tells all of us Robertson , when it matters, did not make an impression on the guy who signs the game roster card ... when given the opportunity , you have to kick the f-ing door down... and never leave, you have to make the most out of the minutes you get.