Over the last 3 games, the Sandin/Liljegren pairing has impressed with nearly $20M worth of Leafs defensemen on IR/LTIR
At the start of the season, if someone told me the Leafs would go stints without their top two goaltenders and 3 of their top 4 defensemen and still manage to be 4th in the overall league standings at the quarter-mark of the season, I'd have called them nuts. Well, here we are, through 22 games, and the Leafs continue to defy the odds. In fact, were it not for a horrendous 4-4-2 start, the Leafs could have been battling the big, bad Bruins for top spot.
A big part of the Leafs' success over the past few games has been the play of Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren, who were thrust into top-4 duties following injuries to Jake Muzzin, T.J. Brodie and Morgan Rielly. Just how good have Sandin and Liljegren been for the Leafs? Well, let's run down the list.
� 39-22 shot attempts for/against
� 4-1 goals for/against
� 74% xGF
� 23-9 scoring chances for/against
� 11-4 high-danger chances for/against
There's literally nothing more you can ask of these two budding young stars, who, before the season began, each signed 2-year contract extensions worth $1.4M per season.
It took awhile for both Sandin and Liljegren to becoming full-fledged full-time NHL players, but when opportunity knocked, they both answered. At just 22 and 23 years old, Sandin and Liljegren have their entire futures ahead of them and, at this point, those futures are looking pretty bright.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 26 | 228 ANSWERS Over the last 3 games, the Sandin/Liljegren pairing has impressed with nearly $20M worth of Leafs defensemen on IR/LTIR When the Leafs are back at full health on defense (minus Muzzin), should the Sandin/Liljegren pairing remain together? | ||
| Yes | 199 | 87.3 % |
| No | 29 | 12.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
