Young Leafs defenseman grinding hard this summer, primed for a breakout season
The cards have not exactly fallen Timothy Liljegren's way since his draft year. As many may recall, a fierce battle with mononucleosis and then being juggled around between 3 different Swedish leagues in his draft year led to the Kristianstad, Sweden native struggling mightily and watching his draft stock plummet. Liljegren was once considered a top-5 draft pick, but ended up falling to the Leafs at 17th overall back in 2017.
In the years since being drafted, Liljegren has bounced back and forth between the AHL and NHL and even played a game for the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers during the 2018-19 season. The path to becoming an NHL regular wasn't an easy one for Liljegren. He's had to work for every opportunity he's gotten and although he has shown promise, he has also shown some inconsistency. Now, he's hoping, as is the rest of Leafs Nation, that his struggles are behind him and the best days remain ahead.
Liljegren signed a 2-year, $2.8M extension last summer, which carries a $1.4M cap hit. He's entering the final year of that deal this season and if his summer training is any indication, Liljegren is prepping for a huge 2023-24 campaign.
Liljegren played a career-high 67 games for the Leafs last season, racking up 6 goals and 18 points over that span, which was 5 less points than the 23 he accumulated just one year prior, in 6 less games to boot. Last year was a down year for the 24-year-old, but he's putting in the work, as you can clearly see above, to try to give himself an edge next season.
It's been 6 years since the Leafs drafted Liljegren, and we know that defensemen take longer to develop than forwards, but we are certainly approaching the point with Liljegren where guys are either established NHLers or just don't appear to have what it takes to be NHL regulars. I still think there are a lot of tools in Liljegren's tool box that can make him a successful NHL defenseman, but if he doesn't take a step and put together a breakout season for the Leafs in 2023-24, he'll run the risk of hampering his own future in the league. Simply put, this is a very important season for Liljegren and it's nice to see him not taking things likely and working hard to come to training camp prepared.
Liljegren has that 10-goal, 50-point potential. I just hope he realizes that potential and can put it all together this season and take that step that we all know that he can take.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 9 | 225 ANSWERS Young Leafs defenseman grinding hard this summer, primed for a breakout season Will 2023-24 be Timothy Liljegren's breakout season? | ||
| Yes | 179 | 79.6 % |
| No | 46 | 20.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
