Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign Liljegren to 2 year extension 3M AAV

[DarkKnight]

To be fair, Lilly struggled in the playoffs.

And this is his biggest historical fan here.

 

[RoadWarrior]

guys half the D man Benoit is and gets twice the money......stupid stupid stupid.........

Benoit can’t run a power play. Lilly showed he could when Rielly was suspended. That’s why the pay difference.

 

[PromisedLand]

It's the contract I expected, and he is a guy we should be keeping. $3 mil was the number I used in Capfriendly in playing around with next years roster.

Yes, he was a regular in our lineup this year. He missed ONE playoff game, when they were mixing it up. He played most of the regular season, when he wasn't injured.

He was our second highest scoring D man, per game played. Lowest GA/60 amongst, McCabe, Rielly, Boosh, Brodie.. Second highest expected goal %, just behind Rielly of the full season guys.

Some of this fanbase is so myopic, sees one thing and fixates on it. Benoit is very good at being physical.. not so good at moving the puck... we love Benoit, but players like him are why we can't move the puck out of our zone. Lilly moves the puck well. He's also only 24.

This is a good signing.

We should extend Robertson too.

he is the 2nd best puck mover from teh backend after rielly. puck hardly stayed in the d-zone when lily was on ice. his outlets are pretty good too. the issue was keefe's system had forwards breaking/blowing the zone as soon as d-men had the puck there wasn't much support.


i still think lily would improve a lot. if it doesnt pan out moving him is not an issue and its only 2 yr deal. The only time our PP was super HOT Lily was QB and there was a pointshot thread so opposition was kept honest while PKing too. Hopefully they give Lily fulltime #1PP duties next season

 

[Nineteen67]

I like Liljegren. Slower than death and he’s decent enough, but that AAV is a little rich.

 

[Menzinger]

And a player who can’t put it together, everyone’s had bad bosses, that no reason for giving him a hall pass. If I’m Benoit and I see this stiff making twice as much while mailing it in, well that ain’t good……..

Benoit doesn't strike me as the sensitive type, but he's under control thr next 3 years regardless of how he feels

 

[sxvnert]

Absolutely disgusting signing.

 

[Skullz]

I like this. Would have preferred the same AAV on a longer term, but I think Lily is only going to improve. To me, the warts in his game will be improved through experience, and he brings puck moving ability that we sorely need. I like his ability to close off plays in transition as well. A 3rd pairing of Benoit and Lily is very good IMO.

 

[Jmo89]

Pretty average contract imo. I don't mind giving him a year to see what he can do under Berube. It also seems easy enough to trade if they need to.

They still need to sign at least a couple dmen though.

 

[stickty111]

Watching Hayes, Jeff, Carlo, JD, Bourne, McKee speaking on Liljegren resigning will be fun. You can include Siegel too.

 

[DarkKnight]

Maybe he does figure it out, but what has concerned me, I’ve seen no development in his game the last two years. Go look at the games from the 2022 season, I’d argue he looked his best there for a spell. His consistency hasn’t improved at all, his arc is flat, which is why I’m now down on him. The lack of physicality and hockey IQ lapse, combined with his propensity to get “down on himself”, I don’t think he’s a top 6 on a true contender D core. He’s depth to me, and you can’t pay depth that cash.

 

[BM14]

Watching Hayes, Jeff, Carlo, JD, Bourne, McKee meltdown over this will be fun

Good. They have horrible takes.

 

[Once]

If we keep him he’s gotta be deployed as an offensive two-way dman. Put him in the top PP, give him offensive zone starts. He still has more to give offensively imo.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

If he's playing third pair, it's not great. However, he's RD so that does increase his value probably by 1M

 

[Fogelhund]

This is where reading an excel sheet vs watching is shown.

The player can’t stay on his skates, it’s constantly bullied off the puck, can’t shadow his assignments and can’t stay healthy.

This BS about reading an excel sheet is a very poor attempt at discrediting his stats, which were very strong, and well backed up by watching him.

..and that's the funny thing... people get something in their mind, and it sticks. As the season wore on, he stayed on his skates better, was knocking much bigger players of the puck, and was very good at stealing the puck off of others. This is a young, physically late maturing kid, who will put up 20/20 or 25/25 if put on PP2 and used correctly.


Constantly bullied off the puck... umm actually only gave up the puck 18 times last year... I guess looking up actual excel stats sucks when it doesn't fit your narrative.

There is lots of time and room for him to grow, but you don't throw away the second best shot on the team, and a kid with this much natural offensive talent... if we do get rid of him, people will be talking about him, as the one we shouldn't have traded in a few years.

Our fanbase has such a lack of patience for young players... they are either superstars right away, or hot garbage... then the same people are mad when these guys excel elsewhere, and this kid will hit 50 points, and at least 25 goals in this league...

 

[PromisedLand]

Rather give that money to a Boosh actually.

Here’s the thing about Lil, this idea he’s a puck mover and can skate out of our end. Yes, against passive teams like Ottawa, he looks great. When we face an effective forecheck, he falls apart completely, blinding chicks grenades up the wall to nobody and doesn’t skate at all. He can’t process the play quick enough. He’s a mirage that disappears when you looks closer, or more correctly when the game gets closer. He made my eyes bleed last playoffs.

Leafs' defensive zone structure was a joke. Forwards were never on top of the pucks. They were looking to blow the zone; all the time on the wing. For that Leafs would need like Prime Chara big body dude.

Berube's defensive structure is different I think Lily would do a lot better. If it doesn't pan out for some reason then one can always trade him; its not an albatross of a contract.

I am willing to bet Liljegren would do a lot better under Berube

 

[notbias]

Assuming Tanev will be 4mil x 6 as reported, this leaves us with just shy of $9 mil in cap, with 1st line LW, 2nd line LW and 2nd pair RD, a goalie to sign.

I think after Robertson is signed, we have all our forwards.

They still need a 2nd pairing RD and a backup (no way they gave Woll that contract without him being the projected starter).

It is not that bad, just no change, people should be pissed about that if they wanted it.

 

[Macallan18]

UFA or not, a bottom pairing D-man this unreliable shouldn't be getting $3m

Not a great playoffs, but regular season our third best d-man

 

[Jmo89]

Assuming Tanev will be 4mil x 6 as reported, this leaves us with just shy of $9 mil in cap, with 1st line LW, 2nd line LW and 2nd pair RD, a goalie to sign.

How much do they save by trading Kampf and Jarnkrok and filling those spots with ELCs / minimums?

 

[DarkKnight]

This BS about reading an excel sheet is a very poor attempt at discrediting his stats, which were very strong, and well backed up by watching him.

..and that's the funny thing... people get something in their mind, and it sticks. As the season wore on, he stayed on his skates better, was knocking much bigger players of the puck, and was very good at stealing the puck off of others. This is a young, physically late maturing kid, who will put up 20/20 or 25/25 if put on PP2 and used correctly.


Constantly bullied off the puck... umm actually only gave up the puck 18 times last year... I guess looking up actual excel stats sucks when it doesn't fit your narrative.

There is lots of time and room for him to grow, but you don't throw away the second best shot on the team, and a kid with this much natural offensive talent... if we do get rid of him, people will be talking about him, as the one we shouldn't have traded in a few years.

Our fanbase has such a lack of patience for young players... they are either superstars right away, or hot garbage... then the same people are mad when these guys excel elsewhere, and this kid will hit 50 points, and at least 25 goals in this league...

How can anyone say people see what they want and not acknowledge he was bullied off the puck? Like seriously, did you watch the Boston series? His idea of a board battle win is a draw. It was embarrassing.

Mind blowing.

 

[ThrowDemTongs]

Frick

 

[PromisedLand]

He was sat out the last two years in the playoffs. Only hope is Berube helps him take another step.

Keefe sat him out for f***ing Justin Holl

I think he was injured against the bruins thats why he got sat for brodie and brodie sucked ass and liljegren was back in again LMAO

 

[notbias]

Keefe sat him out for f***ing Justin Holl

I think he was injured against the bruins thats why he got sat for brodie and brodie sucked ass and liljegren was back in again LMAO

Could have used Holl this year for our PK.

 

[Macallan18]

Richer than I’d like for two years but I’m glad they’re keeping him.. there’s room for growth and I really want to see what he can do under Berube.

Folks were jealous of Florida’s ability to have so many good players on value contracts, like Verhaeghe, Bennett, Forsling, and Montour. They took some chances on guys who have had ups and downs in their development but have shown promise. I think Lily has more offense in his game.

And more defence under a better coach

 

[rumman]

Benoit doesn't strike me as the sensitive type, but he's under control thr next 3 years regardless of how he feels

That’s how you kill morale, pay the guy who can’t do his job while others do the heavy lifting, where do you guys work, in a office?

 

[Fogelhund]

To be fair, Lilly struggled in the playoffs.

Yes he did struggle in these playoffs, but he only missed one game... and to be fair, our team sucked in the playoffs, and it wasn't just him. But it was a six game sample, and you don't give up on a player... really playing in his first nearly full playoff series, because of a couple of games. In time, we will be glad we kept him.