Confirmed with Link: Leafs Trade: Liljegren to San Jose for Matt Benning, 3rd and 6th

[Jimmy Firecracker]

 

[3blizzard4]

Wonder If Babs asked Lilly to rank the management team at the draft?

 

[Gabriel426]

Not a bad trade considering he had been press boxed

 

[The Best Leafs Everr]

Can't develop forwards?

Of course, look at the current group. When the playoffs come they disappear like they are some 3rd, 4th liners. Leafs organization is really a joke.

 

[Leafsfan74]

Sam Pollock won 9 Stanley Cups. He knew something about building a winning hockey team. He said that a team may not always know what they are receiving in a trade, but they had better be absolutely certain they know what they are giving up.

I agree that Lilegren's value was likely higher a couple of years ago, but I understand why the Leafs were unwilling to give him up earlier, For me, the final nail in the coffin was his poor play in last year's playoffs.

Lilly had a strong few months after Giordano was his partner. It may have even have been during the Bubble season but I forget.

When he has been in a playoff match both Boston and TB targetted him both in front of the net, in his corner, along the boards. It seemed whenever he was on the ice the game was a game of hot potato and they were hemmed in for a minute and a half.

I wish him the best. There are worst situations than making $3M U.S a year while playing a sport for a living in California. I just don't see him reaching his potential when the game becomes a grind

 

[TMLeafer]

Hope he puts it together. I like the guy but he seemed to have something missing in his game that bugged me. Not sure what exactly..

 

[Antropovsky]

Cool, always a fan of acquiring defensemen off bad teams.

 

[thewave]

Cool, always a fan of acquiring defensemen off bad teams.

The only way to poach a hidden gem

 

[darrylsittler27]

We have a vet defense. We slag our own guys and devalue them. Told you he wasn't worth much but he will turn into a decent dman..elsewhere.

 

[francis246]

The only way to poach a hidden gem

Benning is cheap depth and he’ll clear waivers. Where as Lilly will not. Anyways good riddance. He’ll probably put up a decent amount of points on a terrible team but it’ll be Sandin 2.0. Just not going to be reliable as a top 4 d on a contending team. Cannot handle a forecheck and that’s a basic requirement in the playoffs.

 

[arso40]

We better be upgrading that third pair cause those guys on it right now are not doing it

 

[Clark4Ever]

Benning likes to throw the big hits and drop the gloves once in a while. If he slots in and plays a simple game, he could be a decent addition on the 3rd pairing when needed.

 

[IronHookem]

We better be upgrading that third pair cause those guys on it right now are not doing it

We better pray our top 4 stays healthy because the last thing I want to see is Benoit, Timmins & Myers all in the lineup.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Well the return could have been worse considering the circumstances but what a farce that Treliving and Berube think Benoit and Timmins are better. Like I really don't get how an NHL GM and coach can have that opinion.

 

[arso40]

Well the return could have been worse considering the circumstances but what a farce that Treliving and Berube think Benoit and Timmins are better. Like I really don't get how an NHL GM and coach can have that opinion.

It’s insane but atleast their on the same page worst comes to worst whole sale changes to the front office and coaching staff

 

[Roo]

I’m guessing benning is getting waived and sent down. I think he’s cooked.

 

[arso40]

Benning likes to throw the big hits and drop the gloves once in a while. If he slots in and plays a simple game, he could be a decent addition on the 3rd pairing when needed.

In order for him to be that Benoit has to be good he’s not atleast not good enough

 

[DarkKnight]

James Mirtle "taking to some other teams around the league, there were lots of teams that, were like, nope. There were just so many teams that weren't interested at all".

Commenting on idea he had more value at the draft

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1851799189119762637

 

[RealityBytes]

Too bad ... on the Swedish team, Liljegren was the guy who covered up the back and made Dahlin look good.

 

[inthe6ix]

From the Sharks board on Benning:

Benning moves like a guy who has been injured for a couple of years, He had hip surgery and doesn't move as well as he did before he got injured regularly. He was bad not terrible before now just terrible. Wish him well maybe he can return to occasional good games but don't count on it. Any Value you receive is in the draft picks.

Good luck Lilly, you are probably better than Walman over there, but that ain't saying much on a rebuilding team.

At least his numbers will inflate feeding Celebrini and Granlund since he won't have to face a forecheck in the playoffs.

 

[Anthrax442]

Too bad he didnt work out

 

[RoadWarrior]

He was clearly #8 on Berube's depth chart and that's before Hakanpaa and we don't need a 3mil 8D. Nice to get a couple picks, Benning is whatever in this deal.

Benning will be buried in the minors. It’s a straight up salary dump of Liljegren. Not many teams around the league are dumping mobile 25 year old right shot D men for cap space. Leave it to the leafs. Obviously Liljegren did something to piss off management. His giveaway against Florida costing them the series losing OT goal in the ‘23 playoffs might be a factor. That being said it was a 5 game series and the leafs were never going to win.

 

[ITM]

Not a fan of the move, always liked Liljegren and hoped we'd hold out a little longer on him, especially with a new coach, but c'est la vie. If it helps team chemistry, so be it.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Really gotta question why they even signed him to that deal

Sign and trade before Nov 1st. Otherwise they lose him for nothing if they don’t qualify him.