Speculation: *Rifai vs. Liljegren. Rifai Clears. Liljegren healthy scratch.

[mapleleaf979]

They’re not writing him off, but his injury history is concerning. At some point, you’re deemed too injury prone and not trustworthy in that regard.

Liljegren is just one perfect examples of a player that has the tools but hasn’t put it together. To me, he needs to up the pace and urgency in his game. He won’t be a physical defenseman. Buy the opposition target him as a weak link in the chain in the playoffs. Anticipate faster, get to pucks faster, use your skating to get pucks out more. He can do all those things. The puck needs to be moving the other way before the forecheckers start laying the body on him.

List his tools for me.
The rest of your post , u are literally echoing what Berube said, this is not your read on the game because the bolded part shows u can not judge Liljegren accurately.

 

[sunstersun]

He needs to be fluid with his passing and movements and defense because of his lack of size.

He's not. He needs to be a high IQ player, he's not.

I've really wanted him to work out. Injury luck went shite a couple of times he looked like a 2-3D.

 

[mapleleaf979]

Lil was going to arbitration and his numbers supported that money, anyone saying we over paid him is, well….

Just trade him, someone will see value. Sucker.


I would have kept Sandin over Lil, at least he’s outstanding in some areas of the game.

Sandin has limited upside if any left. His skating especially first 3 strides are terrible. Its real sluggish, this impacts short area battles and evading pressure. He gets swarmed because of his skating. Sandin has hockey sense, its better than Reilly's but his skating impairs how he can use his hockey sense. Secondly, Sandin will never be able to withstand playoff forecheckers with that size, it would be real easy to wear him out, injure him or make him avoid forecheckers at all costs, make him a real liability overall, especially down low. Liljegren has to go, he has no hockey sense at all, he is outsmarted constantly.

 

[DarkKnight]

Sandin has limited upside if any left. His skating especially first 3 strides are terrible. Its real sluggish, this impacts short area battles and evading pressure. He gets swarmed because of his skating. Sandin has hockey sense, its better than Reilly's but his skating impairs how he can use his hockey sense. Secondly, Sandin will never be able to withstand playoff forecheckers with that size, it would be real easy to wear him out, injure him or make him avoid forecheckers at all costs, make him a real liability overall, especially down low. Liljegren has to go, he has no hockey sense at all, he is outsmarted constantly.

I said I liked Sandin more.

 

[Roo]

List his tools for me.
The rest of your post , u are literally echoing what Berube said, this is not your read on the game because the bolded part shows u can not judge Liljegren accurately.

I'm pretty sure I am reading him just fine, but I won't claim to be a pro. Just a fan that has watched A LOT of hockey, but I could certainly be wrong. If you don't think he has any tools, then perhaps it is you that cannot assess player performance and talent.

 

[jaric1862]

They can't just keep healthy scratching him. Have to give him a shot in the new system.

 

[Throw More Waffles]

I remember when Sandin and Liljegren were being advertised here as our future "elite" D core. You were a "troll" if you pointed out they were getting massively overrated. Good times.

 

[ULF_55]

I remember when Sandin and Liljegren were being advertised here as our future "elite" D core. You were a "troll" if you pointed out they were getting massively overrated. Good times.

Yeah, things have changed.

Rielly looks like #3 today.

 

[GQS]

I remember when Sandin and Liljegren were being advertised here as our future "elite" D core. You were a "troll" if you pointed out they were getting massively overrated. Good times.

To be fair its hard to determine whether Liljegren can be more than what we've seen so far when he's been jerked around so much and his developed was stunted by Keefe the past several years. It never seemed like Keefe saw him as being an important part of the team with the way he treated him in terms of ice time and when he would play him.

The only time we saw Liljegren giving a larger role and consistent playing time was back in 2022 in the first part of the season when Rielly and Brodie were both out for a number of weeks with injuries. He did very well and then when the vets came back, Keefe relegated him back to a lesser role with less minutes and that was it. All this time I don't think Keefe or anyone else has ever seemed to prioritize trying to develop Lilijegren properly and give him a large consistent role on the team to see what he could do.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

To be fair its hard to determine whether Liljegren can be more than what we've seen so far when he's been jerked around so much and his developed was stunted by Keefe the past several years. It never seemed like Keefe saw him as being an important part of the team with the way he treated him in terms of ice time and when he would play him.

The only time we saw Liljegren giving a larger role and consistent playing time was back in 2022 in the first part of the season when Rielly and Brodie were both out for a number of weeks with injuries. He did very well and then when the vets came back, Keefe relegated him back to a lesser role with less minutes and that was it. All this time I don't think Keefe or anyone else has ever seemed to prioritize trying to develop Lilijegren properly and give him a large consistent role on the team to see what he could do.

So...he was a victim? Ok.