Player Discussion: Liljegren Is Back

[GQS]

I think it's pretty telling when a guy like Lily can come in and all of a sudden things start to stabilize

IMO he's established himself this year as a top 4 d-man and is showing some top pairing potential with Rielly and Brodie's injuries.

And it's only his second full NHL season with less than 100 games played

If he keeps playing the way he has and keeps improving, Liljegren should be the Leafs top Dman sooner rather than later. Its still a relative small sample size, but I like his defensive play and its what I hoped Rielly could become eventually but sadly he hasn't. Rielly has been playing top pairing minutes without often being good enough defensively to play those kinds of minutes while Liljegren is showing he might be the guy that can do that for the Leafs.

I know it won't happen, but I'd be perfectly fine with trading Rielly and getting a decent return for him and then using that cap space to get a good forward or to find a defensive Dman at a cheaper price as a replacement. With both Liljegren and Sandin playing well and improving, I really don't think we'd miss Rielly all that much. I think both Sandin and Liljegren can replace most of the offense that Rielly provides and defensively if they can keep playing the way they have if not better then they're already better than Rielly there as well.

No longer will we have to answer the question of who can play well with Rielly to cover for him when we right now have good pairings in Lily/Sandin, Brodie/Gio and Holl/Timmins/Benn.

Also reading past threads, its crazy to see a number of Leafs fans wanting to trade Liljegren for immediate defensive help barely a year or two after drafting him. A number of people on this board were throwing him into so many trade proposals without giving him a chance and seeing if he could actually play in the NHL. Maybe one of the worst propsals I saw was Liljegren plus some other assets for Shea Weber back when Babcock was still here and some people felt the Leafs needed to go 'all in'. Damn what a disaster of a deal that would've been if it actually happened.

Glad to see Dubas not do anything crazy and he kept Liljegren so that we can now see him play well and start to become really good for the Leafs and not another team.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

 

[stickty111]

Interesting. Yet Keefe went back to Rielly and Brodie for the tough matchups

 

[leafsfan5]

Liljergen tonight against Boston:

20:32 TOI (2nd highest on Toronto)
xGF: 0.54-0.36 Toronto
Scoring Chances: 9-6 Toronto
High danger chances: 5-2 Toronto

He dominated against by far the best team in the NHL. Lilly is an absolute stud and quickly turning into one of our top defenders. Keefe needs to give him more icetime and responsibility, he deserves it. Hopefully tonight is the start of that and he stays as one of our top 2-3 defenders in TOI

Sandin was exceptional tonight as well. Both of them worked very well with one another

 

[stickty111]

He's been so good along with Sandin. They have shown they can handle top 4 mins well. Until Brodie comes back to hopefully straighten out Rielly, I would split the tough matchups between Gio, Lilly, Sandin and add in Holl for important situations.
I think for now and we don't have much choice, you run
Sandin-Lilly
Gio-Timmins
Rielly-Holl
I don't see Keefe doing Rielly-Lilly again

 

[weems]

I think he's the teams best and most consistent all around defender at this point.

He's been better defensively and much better in the decision making department than I had anticipated.

In hindsight taking him out of the lineup last playoffs looks extremely questionable.

 

[francis246]

I think he's the teams best and most consistent all around defender at this point.

He's been better defensively and much better in the decision making department than I had anticipated.

In hindsight taking him out of the lineup last playoffs looks extremely questionable.

I have to disagree on the last point. Liljegren’s poise this season wasn’t there last season. He was really inconsistent. Putting in holl was the right choice and Holl played very well in the Tampa series.

Liljegren wasn’t the difference between us winning and losing last year if we are being 100% honest.

This year different story, he’s probably the #1 or #2 RD on the team.

 

[francis246]

Nice to hear the overdrive boys give Liljegren the credit he deserves

 

[Wendelstache]

If Lilly and Rielly can mesh like the Lilly/Sandin tandem, I can see Lilly taking another step with more opportunities and ice time.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Nice to hear the overdrive boys give Liljegren the credit he deserves

Hell has frozen over. Was it in the first hour?

 

[francis246]

Hell has frozen over. Was it in the first hour?

Yes 1st hour! Off the rip

 

[IPS]

Rielly had a bit of a resurgent game tonight, and guess who his defensive partner was

 

[BertCorbeau]

Quietly has become a steady two way top 4 d-man.

 

[stickty111]

Quietly has become a steady two way top 4 d-man.

Played almost 9 mins against Tkachuk and put up 64% expected goals. Keefe gave the tough matchups to Rielly and Liljegren.

 

[stickty111]

Hell has frozen over. Was it in the first hour?

It was also in the third hour with MJ. He had a lot of praise for him.

 

[leafsfan5]

Played almost 9 mins against Tkachuk and put up 64% expected goals. Keefe gave the tough matchups to Rielly and Liljegren.

Absolute stud

Won't be long before people recognize he's likely our top defender

 

[ULF_55]

Missed opportunity in last year's playoffs.

They lost in the first round, and if he played they might have won.

We only KNOW they lost with him out of the line-up.

 

[francis246]

Missed opportunity in last year's playoffs.

They lost in the first round, and if he played they might have won.

We only KNOW they lost with him out of the line-up.

I know I keep bringing it up, but I think that statement is a bit of a reach. I don’t think one player would have made or broke the series for us. So many factors affected, such as officiating and just some awful puck luck. Liljegren wasn’t performing at this level last year. & he didn’t look great in the 2nd game he got into. Though he played well in the first & logged 20 mins I think. A bit of inconsistency last year. He’s stepped it up another level this year. And is trending as a top 2/top 4 defender. But he wasn’t going to be the difference maker for us last year. It’s disingenuous to assume that lol. We couldn’t score in games 6 & 7 in the clutch. Not sure how Liljegren solves that problem for us.

 

[ULF_55]

I know I keep bringing it up, but I think that statement is a bit of a reach. I don’t think one player would have made or broke the series for us. So many factors affected, such as officiating and just some awful puck luck. Liljegren wasn’t performing at this level last year. & he didn’t look great in the 2nd game he got into. Though he played well in the first & logged 20 mins I think. A bit of inconsistency last year. He’s stepped it up another level this year. And is trending as a top 2/top 4 defender. But he wasn’t going to be the difference maker for us last year. It’s disingenuous to assume that lol. We couldn’t score in games 6 & 7 in the clutch. Not sure how Liljegren solves that problem for us.

We will never know.

We do know they didn't move on and he didn't get the experience he could have.

Everything else is speculation.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I probably still would have played Liljegren over Boosh, as Boosh wasn't much better, and the experience for Liljegren was worth more than the difference between them, but to be fair, Liljegren wasn't exactly amazing through the first two games, and we were heading to Tampa where they'd be able to target him more.

He's been great this year though, and seems to keep taking steps.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

Lily is shining and its glorious

 

[francis246]

We will never know.

We do know they didn't move on and he didn't get the experience he could have.

Everything else is speculation.

Agreed on the experience part. All I’m saying is it’s not reasonable to say him not playing was the reason we lost the series, I think we lost 1 game with him in the line up. But it’s also possible he could have helped us win!

 

[LeafSteel]

I don't think one can underestimate the importance of knowing you are going to play regularly, and that you aren't going to get yanked out of the lineup for the slightest mistake.

Liljegren absolutely should have been in the playoff lineup last year and I think the steadiness and growth we are seeing now comes from him knowing that his place in the lineup is set, and he can just go ahead and play his game without fear that he will be bumped out of the lineup for any mistakes made.

I think we will see Timmins turn the same corner when he has the same confidence of being in the lineup, which will only happen if/when a final decision is made on Holl.

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

I probably still would have played Liljegren over Boosh, as Boosh wasn't much better, and the experience for Liljegren was worth more than the difference between them, but to be fair, Liljegren wasn't exactly amazing through the first two games, and we were heading to Tampa where they'd be able to target him more.

He's been great this year though, and seems to keep taking steps.

Boosh got caved in in his minutes against Tampa. Liljegren should have played.

It's still funny to me that Tampa ran all over Boosh yet some people here (not you) still think we need a guy with a similar profile to put in the exact same situation.

 

[Martin Skoula]

I don't think one can underestimate the importance of knowing you are going to play regularly, and that you aren't going to get yanked out of the lineup for the slightest mistake.

Liljegren absolutely should have been in the playoff lineup last year and I think the steadiness and growth we are seeing now comes from him knowing that his place in the lineup is set, and he can just go ahead and play his game without fear that he will be bumped out of the lineup for any mistakes made.

I think we will see Timmins turn the same corner when he has the same confidence of being in the lineup, which will only happen if/when a final decision is made on Holl.

Yeah as much as they did a good job bringing along Liljegren’s defensive reads and poise/risk tolerance, the absurdly short leash at the NHL level might have delayed his offensive game from getting the confidence it needs to set the pace of the game rather than react to it.

They did a good job of turning him into a safe playoff calibre top-4 D now at the cost of some of the future 60+ point 1D upside he can hit if he gets the leeway to develop Sandin’s swagger offensively.