I still believe in Liljegren and would like to see him given a chance to work with Berube. I still think he has the potential to be what we need him to be and his development went sideways under Keefe (see “Robertson “).
Reading the tea leaves here, if the plan is to move on from Liljegren (for who? Myers? Timmins? Hakanpaa?), what will you expect back?
25 year old, RHD, 17th overall pick (please ignore our pitiful RHD depth for now).
LHD Sandin, who wasn’t as good as Liljegren, got us a 1st rounder.
What can we reasonably get for Liljegren that doesn’t make trading him look like a short sighted move that blows up in our face later because we gave up on him too soon and didn’t get nearly enough value back?
Another 1st round pick who takes 2-4 years to add anything to our roster?
Part of a deal for a 2C like Danault?
Another RHD? Like who? As much as I like Myers and Timmins, and intrigued by Hakanpaa, man that RHD “depth” gives me a serious case of the whim whams.
If we really insist on moving on from Liljegren, I think it’s imperative that a 2C is coming back.
While RHD continues to be a glaring weakness that’s only going to get worse trading Liljegren, 2C is clearly going to be an issue sooner than later, as evidenced by the Leafs trying to fit Nylander there (hello square peg being forced into a round hole).
Every day that passes, Tavares moves closer to 3C, and if he is (hopefully) re -signed to a team friendly deal, 3C is where he should remain.
We have no Centre pipeline of which to speak currently and the UFA centre don’t look so hot, so trade is where we need to go.
So, you want to move on from Liljegren, who or what do you realistically expect coming back for him to make this team better and to make sure we don’t lose the trade and an asset because we ran out of patience?
Cheers