Timothy Liljegren is fresh off signing a two-year contract extension with the Maple Leafs with a $3 million average annual value. The right-handed defenseman gets ready to enjoy a clean slate playing under new head coach Craig Berube, but how exactly will Berube use Liljegren next season?
Liljegren is coming off an up-and-down year where an ankle injury caused by a collision with Brad Marchand, ruined a trip to the Global Hockey Series in Sweden last November. Liljegren eventually made his way back into the lineup on December 16, after missing roughly six weeks. He finished the 2023-24 season posting 23 points in 55 regular season games and added one assist in six Stanley Cup Playoffs. With a new contract in his back pocket and a fresh voice behind the bench, Liljegren will be looking to take a big step forward next season.
The Leafs are hopeful that will indeed be the case. They’ve invested $3 million in cap space the next two seasons and will be looking for the 25-year-old blueliner to take a step forward in his development. The question becomes, where exactly does he play and in what situations?
Looking back at last season, Liljegren averaged a career high 19:39 of ice-time and saw some time on the Maple Leafs’ power play and penalty kill units, mostly on the second units. Expect much of the same next season. Liljegren is likely to be hopping over the boards with the second power-play unit, as newcomer Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Morgan Rielly are very likely to get first unit reps ahead of the right-handed blueliner. With Chris Tanev brought in, and Jake McCabe and Simon Benoit returning, they’ll be getting penalty kill reps before Liljegren on the team’s depth chart.
Liljegren should form a great complimentary duo with his countryman Ekman-Larsson. Both are great skaters, and Liljegren should benefit from having a veteran partner, someone who thinks the game at such a high level like OEL does. It won’t be the most physical pairing for Berube, but it should be one he can rely on to help push the pace and chip in with some secondary scoring.
As for the rest of the blue line, Tanev is the perfect partner for Morgan Rielly, while McCabe and Benoit have shown great chemistry in the past and Berube should let them continue to build that connection next season. It would also allow for the Leafs to spread out the ice time, as Tanev and Rielly are going to play the most as the top-pair, McCabe and Benoit can bring the physicality, meanwhile, OEL and Liljegren can help feed the forwards the puck and compliment the offense. All in all, it could be the most balanced blue line Toronto has had in quite some time.
Liljegren needs to be more consistent and healthy to evolve
Liljegren has been a bit of a mystery the team has yet to fully solve. Injuries have been a factor, as he has yet to play more than 67 games in a season. While he can’t control that side of the game, he can control his work ethic and finding ways to be more consistent throughout the entire season.
For instance, when Rielly was suspended in February, Liljegren stepped up in a major way, averaged well over 20 minutes a night and had his best month of the season, recording seven points in 10 games — five of which were without Rielly. Is more ice time the answer?
It was essentially Liljegren’s best stretch as a Leaf and showed the organization all of the tools in the toolbox of someone who was originally a 2017 first-round pick. Liljegren struggled in the playoffs, however and was even scratched for one of the seven games. He appeared to lack confidence in his decision making, he wasn’t stepping up and closing his gaps quick enough and for some reason, fanning on the puck was a theme that caught up to him throughout the entire year.
Looking ahead to next season, Berube needs to ensure he lays out his role on the team in training camp and is very clear of the expectations. From the looks of it, playing alongside Ekman-Larsson makes the most sense on a variety of levels.
That’s if Liljegren makes it to next season. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston knows Liljegren re-upped for two seasons, but Johnston isn’t quite convinced the Maple Leafs are finished having trade talks involving the right-handed defenseman this offseason.
“We’ll see if Timothy Liljegren maybe still gets traded,” Johnston said on the July 2 episode of The Chris Johnston Show. “I know he was signed to a two-year extension but I don’t think you can entirely rule out a trade in his circumstance yet. They’re still going to keep chipping away at the roster.”
If Liljegren starts next season in Toronto, look for Berube to start him with a savvy veteran partner in Ekman-Larsson and also provide him some reps on the second units of the Maple Leafs special teams. After dealing with a serious injury to start last season, Liljegren will look to build off posting 14 points in his final 25 games of the regular season and ensure year six in Toronto is his best yet.
