Two good contract comparables for Timothy Liljegren, who is eligible for an extension this summer
Early into the off-season, the Leafs and Timothy Liljegren agreed to terms on a 2-year extension that would see the 23-year-old make $1.4M per season. A first round pick in 2017, it took Liljegren a few years of development with the Marlies before cracking the Leafs' roster full time which was mostly due to setbacks from mononucleosis and a knee injury. As many young blueliners do, Liljegren struggled at the beginning, but over the past couple of seasons, has emerged as one of the Leafs' best and most consistent defencemen.
While playing mostly third pairing minutes, Liljegren has garnered the trust of Sheldon Keefe to play more on the penalty kill and in critical situations since the trade deadline last season. This season, Liljegren is averaging 2 minutes more of ice time per game than he did last season and has performed very well. A smooth skating, puck moving defenceman, Liljegren is not the biggest defenceman and the most constant knock on him was how easily he would lose battles in the defensive zone. According to Dobber Sports, Liljegren has the highest on-ice save percentage at 5on5 among Leaf defencemen with a .950, leads the Leaf blueline in plus/minus and has the fewest giveaways.
With Liljegren being the Leafs' youngest defenceman, he is eligible to sign an extension next summer and it would be wise for the Leafs to follow in the footsteps of Buffalo and LA in locking up Liljegren to a long-term deal. Both Mattias Samuelsson (23, Buffalo) and Mikey Anderson (24, LA) play more minutes than Liljegren and signed lengthy extensions for reasonable dollars earlier this season. Samuelsson signed a 7-year deal that will pay him $4.3M per season while Anderson signed an 8-year deal that will see him earn $4.1M per season. In both instances, LA and Buffalo are betting on future potential, whereas the Leafs know what they have in Liljegren so committing long-term would not be ask risky as committing long-term to Anderson and Samuelsson.
Liljegren's extension will likely take a back seat until the Leafs know the plans of Auston Matthews and William Nylander as both are also eligible to sign extensions on July first and the sooner they can lock both of them up, the easier it will be for them to plan Liljegren and other's extensions.
