It sucks he got hurt when he did, he looked like he was calming down and playing better D, his start to the season was about as bad as any defender had on the Leaf back end in the last 20 years. Lilly's presence seemed to calm him down.
Lily’s presence? Lol Sandin just started to play with more confidence. That’s really it. Those two also have chemistry. Liljegren didn’t do anything. I think we overhype Liljegren a bit on this board. He’s a good defenseman but he isn’t responsible for others playing well. Sandin started playing well because he found confidence and was given more ice time and the green light to make plays. Pretty simple.
Sandin CAN NOT play the right side effectively in the NHL at this stage of his career.I was not implying that Lilly was a great defender. Sandin played with /was paired with Lilly in the minors so there is a comfort there already. Before Lilly came back, Sandin IMO was trying to be a hero every shift and was forcing play resulting in mistakes, I think the familiarity with Lilly allowed Sandin to slow his mind and game down and play better as a result. TBH, last year, until they got Gio I thought Lilly was dogshit on most nights. This year I think Lilly has grown as a pro, minus a few bad shifts, he is playing like a guy who knows he belongs in the NHL, this year he looks every bit like a regular NHLer. I honestly could not say that about him last year.
Sandin CAN NOT play the right side effectively in the NHL at this stage of his career.
Moving him back to his left side and getting extra PT made all the difference in his improvement IMO.