Speculation: *Rifai vs. Liljegren. It's a thing and it's happening.

[grapes55]

Kings would give up a 4th for timmins and a little more for lilly, I think there's upside with both of them but come on now lol

 

[WTFMAN99]

Kings would give up a 4th for timmins and a little more for lilly, I think there's upside with both of them but come on now lol

6-7th round pick for Timmins would honestly be okay.

 

[ULF_55]

Why would that "be risky"? Why do you consider that "wishful thinking"?

You're asking what is risky about replacing a NHL defender with a non-NHL defender?

 

[notbias]

Let’s look at lilly
Good skater
Average offensively
Poor hockey IQ
Gets knocked off the puck easily
Can’t clear the front of the net

Easily replaceable

Is Benoit much better?

He's slightly better at anything defensively and slightly worse at anything offensively, and I am not even convinced he is better defensively.

He gets beat up more in fights so fans like him, that's the big difference.

 

[ACC1224]

You're asking what is risky about replacing a NHL defender with a non-NHL defender?

No about having Timmins on the bottom pair.

 

[notdoneyet]

Is Benoit much better?

He's slightly better at anything defensively and slightly worse at anything offensively, and I am not even convinced he is better defensively.

He gets beat up more in fights so fans like him, that's the big difference.

Benoit plays a great role beside McCabe
Clears the front of the net
Breaks up the cycle in the corners
Takes the body whenever it presents itself which makes
The opposition aware they are going to get pasted
Makes half as much as Lilly and in the playoffs when the sledding gets tougher makes a difference where as Lilly is ineffective and usually watched from the press box

So yes I say Benoit it much more better equipped to play his role

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Liljegren and Timmins seem to be in direct competition, not sure why the op thinks it's Rifai.
Considering play and cap, Timmins may be the guy they keep.

It could go either way. I wouldn't disagree with this. Timmins could change Berube's mind. A 3 million dollar a year 7th defenseman looks pretty bad. It's not the worst thing, but there's always such a cap squeeze with TOR. Keeping Robertson and Patches might change things.


_________________________________________
Does Rifai have to clear waivers?

 

[sxvnert]

Lily will get the edge because hes right handed. That said, Lily should have never been signed in the first place.

Rielly Tanev
OEL McCabe
Benoit Hakanpää
Rifai RD

 

[horner]

I agree. But begs the question why management didn't just trade him before signing him to 3 mil.

He needs to be in the lineup for that much money.

Mirtle has even said the front office was considering a trade earlier in the summer (or at least wasnt sure about Lily's future), but I guess they got cold feet

A summer of training or not can change a view on a player .

 

[notbias]

Benoit plays a great role beside McCabe
Clears the front of the net
Breaks up the cycle in the corners
Takes the body whenever it presents itself which makes
The opposition aware they are going to get pasted
Makes half as much as Lilly and in the playoffs when the sledding gets tougher makes a difference where as Lilly is ineffective and usually watched from the press box

So yes I say Benoit it much more better equipped to play his role

Failed miserably in the playoffs which seems to be the argument of why Liljegren is bad.

Lily will get the edge because hes right handed. That said, Lily should have never been signed in the first place.

Rielly Tanev
OEL McCabe
Benoit Hakanpää
Rifai RD

That 3rd pairing will spend the entire game in their own end cross-checking people.

 

[Menzinger]

A summer of training or not can change a view on a player .

It can,.but management ultimately bet 6 million on him taking the next step and so far.looks like it could be a loss.

Hopefully I'm wrong

 

[DarkKnight]

Benoit was out there in the dying minutes of playoff games, Lil was benched for washed up Brodie. Nuff said there lol. The Bruins laughed at Lil.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Failed miserably in the playoffs which seems to be the argument of why Liljegren is bad.



That 3rd pairing will spend the entire game in their own end cross-checking people.

Liljegren tends to be hemmed in, no cross-checking, and side-lined for 2 months because he didn't protect himself when skating into the boards with another player.

Hakanpaa's scouting says: "he can play a smart and steady game".

To me that means he can make a good first pass, or clear it into the neutral zone (without relying on cross-checking).

 

[DarkKnight]

Athletic gave Benoit a B+ for the playoffs, Lil a C+.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5470735/2024/05/05/maple-leafs-bruins-playoffs-grades/

 

[notbias]

Liljegren tends to be hemmed in, no cross-checking, and side-lined for 2 months because he didn't protect himself when skating into the boards with another player.

Hakanpaa's scouting says: "he can play a smart and steady game".

To me that means he can make a good first pass, or clear it into the neutral zone (without relying on cross-checking).

"Scouting says"

Athletic gave Benoit a B+ for the playoffs, Lil a C+.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5470735/2024/05/05/maple-leafs-bruins-playoffs-grades/

Benoit lost to him in every metric except advanced stats, so if we want to use those now, we can, but otherwise, he was worse in every way.

Liljegren also sucked.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

"Scouting says"



Benoit lost to him in every metric except advanced stats, so if we want to use those now, we can, but otherwise, he was worse in every way.

Liljegren also sucked.

sorry. not bias says

 

[thusk]

Liljegren had no savor in my mind... If someone is able to tell me concretly what Liljegren strenght is.. hes pretty good. It's kind of player who can do a lot of everything on the ice but don't excel in any part of the game.

"Scouting says"



Benoit lost to him in every metric except advanced stats, so if we want to use those now, we can, but otherwise, he was worse in every way.

Liljegren also sucked.

Benoit played in tought situation playing against top opposite matchup and top defensive situation. The level of difficulty was maybe the hardest of any leafs D, you should considerate how he had been use. If you're only watching GFx GAx when hes on the ixe, for sure he will have a negative one... he never played in situation to have offensive succes becausr his #1 strenght is how he defend so had been use in those situation.

 

[notbias]

Liljegren had no savor in my mind... If someone is able to tell me concretly what Liljegren strenght is.. hes pretty good. It's kind of player who can do a lot of everything on the ice but don't excel in any part of the game.



Benoit played in tought situation playing against top opposite matchup and top defensive situation. The level of difficulty was maybe the hardest of any leafs D, you should considerate how he had been use. If you're only watching GFx GAx when hes on the ixe, for sure he will have a negative one... he never played in situation to have offensive succes becausr his #1 strenght is how he defend so had been use in those situation.

Why are we rewarding Benoit for sucking in the tough situation he was put in?

He defended terribly.

I know he was put in harder situations, but he failed, badly.

I'll continue to say, Liljegren sucked too.

Lub, Rielly, and McCabe were the only good D.

 

[DarkKnight]

Liljegren had no savor in my mind... If someone is able to tell me concretly what Liljegren strenght is.. hes pretty good. It's kind of player who can do a lot of everything on the ice but don't excel in any part of the game.



Benoit played in tought situation playing against top opposite matchup and top defensive situation. The level of difficulty was maybe the hardest of any leafs D, you should considerate how he had been use. If you're only watching GFx GAx when hes on the ixe, for sure he will have a negative one... he never played in situation to have offensive succes becausr his #1 strenght is how he defend so had been use in those situation.

Kyle Jr. was saying Benoit sucked all year, he's boxed himself into another intellectually boring corner and can't evolve out of it. It's just entertaining to read, there's a stat for everyone if you want to cling to a warped bias. Show some pragmatism for once.

Benoit had a good playoffs, the PK sucked, so he bears some responsibility there, but 5 v 5 he was quite effective, efficient and took tough minutes. Period.

 

[notbias]

That guy was saying Benoit sucked all year, he's boxed himself in an intellectually boring corner and can't evolve out of it. It's just entertaining to read, there's a stat for everyone if you want to cling to a warped bias. Benoit had a good playoffs, the PK sucked, so he bears some responsibility there, but 5 v 5 he was quite effective, efficient and took tough minutes. Period.

He was effective at getting scored on, nothing more.

He was good in the regular season, and bad in the playoffs.

I don't even blame him for the playoffs, he was playing above where he should have been.

It is funny to watch people pretend like he played well because he tries hard and they like him.

I like him too, but he is a bottom pairing D who got exposed during the playoffs.

 

[Stephen]

Because instead of having that player for 1000 games like clockwork we are going to trade picks and prospects every trade deadline to have them for 20 games?

That above average guy already got away. He's Sean Durzi. Liljegren, like others say, is just a guy.

 

[namttebih]

Hakanpaa LTIR for 10 games isn't out of the question, is it? I'm sure he could use another 3 weeks rehab? Make a decision then. Regardless, we're looking at a very small sample size here. Especially with only 1 RH on the nights Rifai gets in.

I'm in the not wanting to give up on Liljegren yet camp. I really want to give him 1 more year. I agree however that he might be a cap casualty, but worried of selling low.

Rielly Tanev
Benoit McCabe
OEL Liljegren
Rifai



Pretty obvious Timmins is getting waived regardless. That $325K extra cap is probably the tie break between him and Rifai. Would he be taken? $1.1M for a 6 on a bad team isn't out of the question I guess?

 

[LeafParade]

My issue with Timmins is his injury history. They can only carry so many injury prone defenders. And i am not convinced Hakanpaa is going to remain healthy.

Timmins progression keeps stalling because everywhere he goes he gets injured, and then ends up in the press box. Careerwise he has played very few NHL games for his age.

 

[Da Mash]

I like both Lilly and Benoit.

They both have their roles and they both have weakenesses.

Lilly filed in nicely when Reiley got hurt and the leafs actually play better defensively with Lilly taking over. He has some talent but he does need to work on getting better working the boards and clearing the net.

Benoit is a physical presence. Plays well in front of the net and is hard against the boards. The issue is Benoit has limited hockey IQ. Things dont process fast enough when he has the puck.
He cant lead pass worth a crap. Maybe the new system defensively plays more to his strength is pushing the puck off the boards.

They both need good players beside them. They wont make their partner better.

 

[Nineteen67]

Benoit was out there in the dying minutes of playoff games, Lil was benched for washed up Brodie. Nuff said there lol. The Bruins laughed at Lil.

Both were limited in what they can do, but size and strength won out for Benoit and I think we all felt better with him playing over Liljegren.