The puzzling media discrediting of Liljegren continues

[Man Bear Pig]

To provide a bit of history, there was the bust narrative surrounding Liljegren when it was reported that the LA Kings insisted on Sean Durzi in the Muzzin deal, which came about a year after he slid from a projected top 2-3 position to the teens.

Add to the fact that the Leafs developed him in the minors for a normal length of time for a player of his position and draft ranking, aka not rushing him to the NHL the autumn after the draft, he was seen as late.

Not really sure a guy from msn.com is going to have his pulse on the Leafs, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. The Sportsnet team was very down on him last year, from Bunkis, Bourne, Kypreos, etc. Didn't make sense vs his actual play.

I think some people forget that Liljegren was seen as a top 3 pick going into his draft year before mono derailed his season. I couldn't believe he was still on the board at our pick. Developing him properly has really worked out for him and the Leafs. Liljegren has been great this year, and was pretty good last year too. He's now looking like a legit top 4 dman, maybe top pairing by next season. Home run of a pick.

 

[rojac]

Probably for similar reasons that you opened and posted in a thread about the media opinions of a player despite claiming you don't care about the topic at all

Perhaps I was hoping to get insight into why people cared.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Sports media says dumb things from time to time. This is not news.

 

[Leafidelity]

The Toronto media must always have its pound of flesh. Now that Nylander has thoroughly made them look foolish, they look for their next target.

 

[Sypher04]

Some in the media clearly try and overcompensate for not wanting to appear to having a Toronto centric bias, so sometimes guys like Lily pay the price for that by ending up in the firing line.

That said I also really can't stand the Lily vs Sandin stuff. Both guys are Leafs property and in a spot to help the team win for years to come together

I think it's only natural they will be compared to each other, but some people do seem to lose sight of this. I think the comparisons are fine as long as they are not being used to disparage one of the two players.

 

[Burnie97]

Toronto media has some of the biggest idiots in the hockey world. Kyper, Bourne, Coliacavo, anyone from the Sun not named Terry Koshan.

Yeah pretty much. Koshan seems a little more old school. He just reports and he's actually. A Leaf fan.

Lance hornby is also pretty good for some interesting history tidbits too and seems to be a fan.

 

[Zonk]

Swedish thing? I've been around since before Hammarstrom and Salming and while there was some of that anti-Euro non-sense around the entire league back then, it disappeared completely from Toronto by no later then the Kings 2nd season. Although I cannot offer you anything other than hyperbole there were a lot of kids suddenly asking for 21 at the start of the hockey season.

The reason people were deriding Willie had nothing to do with his Swedish heritage(although born in Calgary), but everything to do with his long periods of seeming disinterest in winning battles, races, going to dirty areas or finishing checks. How many times did Eakins bench him, or Keefe for that matter even with the Leafs?

Looking for racism when it's not anywhere there to be found reflects on you!

I respectfully disagree with your post, (or at least with part of your post).

I have been around from the time that the Leafs won the Cup regularly and remember the anti-Euro nonsense vividly. IMO it definitely DID NOT disappear by the Kings second season (1968-69) but continued much longer.

One of the greatest trades in Leafs history was Wendell Clark for Mats Sundin, but the majority of Leafs fans were irate that the Leafs had traded a good old western Canada boy (who loved to fight) for some soft Swedish player. It took a long, long time for some Leafs fans to finally accept that Sundin was an exceptional talent. Some, (e.g. Don Cherrey), may never have gotten over it.

I do agree with you that not all of the derision of Willie and TL is because of racism, but for the reasons that you mentioned. Another (major) factor is the stupidity of some members of the media, that was not limited to bias against European players. When O'Neill began his career at TSN he regularly chastised Phil Kessel for being lazy and out of shape! "Pot", meet "Kettle".

 

[Smif]

In a weird and ugly way it will actually help us sign him for a longer term contract for cheaper than he should.

 

[ER89]

TIimmins is SOOOOOOOO much better than holl.

A legit top f***ing four.

 

[Magic Man]

The guy is a f***ing blanket.

He has not lived up to his offensive hype, but he is such a good defensive defenseman. I feel so safe when he is out there. Kind of like Brodie that way.

 

[stickty111]

Of course he plays his worst game of the season now

 

[Gabriel426]

I mean we had our 9th defenseman playing, our overall team defense should get better once Lily returns.

Considering we lost our top three Dman at the same time. We were pretty much playing with our 8th and 9th even 10th Dmen for a while.

 

[mapleleaf979]

Any media bringing up Liljegren in a negative way now, is showing lack of knowledge. It was justified last year in the first 40 games and previous years with the Marlies. His time was running out. He was making some head scratching mistakes. In hindsight, he was putting alot of pressure on himself to make something happen, he was forcing things and playing out of his strengths. Girodano it seems really help Liljegren's confidence. I have not seen such a big change in a player so quickly last year as I have with Liljegren. If i had to pick Liljegren or Sandin now, Id pick Liljegren. Liljegren cares about his own end, has taken alot of his risky stretch passes and questionable pinching out of his game. Like ive said all along, Liljegren is an excellent backward skater. He doesnt hestitate to shoot the puck vs looking for a fancy play or differ to the wall. He competes hard and I think takes more pride in his own end than everyone on the team not named Brodie or Giordano.

 

[Anthrax442]

Must be a Swedish thing. They did it to Willie now to Lilly.
Click bait?

Craig Button was shitting on Nylander and Kapanen from the start. Insufferable boob.