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

[Rare Jewel]

Once you qualify him, he was arbitration eligible. Meaning he wouldn't accept 1.4, would go to arbitration and who knows what he gets (probably 3.5+).

The options were to either not qualify him at all and let him become a free agent, or qualify him and negotiate something similar to what he'd get in arbitration.

Or offer 1 year @ $1.7. The 2nd year was unnecessary especially @ $3m

But as it turned out the coach didn't really like him anyway...

 

[banks]

By the start of next year I'll have forgotten Liljegren so much that when there's a TOR/SJS square in a Puckdoku game I'll answer Kyle Wellwood way before this guy pops into my mind.