Leafs appear to be hurting the development of one young player by limiting his ice time
When Timothy Liljegren was drafted in the middle of round one by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2017, it was seen as a steal with the Swedish defenseman being the 6th ranked European skater and, at one point, a projected top-5 pick. He dealt with a bout of mononucleosis and that seemed to have affected his draft stock. He also moved around a lot in his draft year, which caused his stock to plummet. Nevertheless, it worked out like gangbusters for the Maple Leafs, who believed they secured their top-pairing defenseman for the future on the right side.
It's been an up-and-down tenure for the 24-year-old right-shot defenseman. He has shown flashes of brilliance, but it also seems that, at times, the coaching staff doesn't fully trust him to take on a larger role.
When Liljegren plays over 20 minutes a night, his scoring catapults him into a much higher tier, production-wise. During the 2022-23 season, he averaged over 20 minutes of ice-time in 19 games and tallied 3 goals and 8 assists. This season, he has seen 15 games with extended ice-time and has tallied 9 assists along the way. It's a small sample, however that's 0.588 points per game, which would have him at a 48-point pace in an 82-game season.
Conversely when he plays less than 20 minutes a night, he tallied only 7 points in 48 games in 2022-23 and just 5 points in 21 games this season for a paltry 0.174 points per game. In a full 82-game season, that would leave him at just 14 points, a far cry from his true potential.
With Morgan Rielly serving his 5-game suspension, Liljegren has been thrust into a top-pair role alongside T.J. Brodie and it should come as no surprise that he has tallied 5 assists in his last 2 games. He played 18:48 against the St. Louis Blues, then a season-high 24:27 against the Philadelphia Flyers, before seeing 22:24 of ice-time against Anaheim on Saturday.
He had seen over 20 minutes of ice-time just once prior to Rielly's suspension in a span of 9 games. He had no points, was a plus-2, and had just 11 shots on goal in 17:28 ATOI.
The Maple Leafs are desperate for Liljegren to take that much needed leap into being at least a staple in the top-4. Alongside Rielly, Brodie, and Jake McCabe, Liljegren should be seeing way more ice-time. I'm not sure if it's an issue between Liljegren and Sheldon Keefe or if it's just Keefe reacting to what he's seeing from Liljegren on a game-to-game basis, but when the Leafs are at a full compliment of players, it seems like Liljegren is often getting the short end of the stick, which is never good for a young and developing defenseman.
Hopefully Liljegren can continue to take advantage of the added ice-time and that the coaching staff notices the improvements as they march towards their upcoming playoff push.
| POLL | ||
19 FEVRIER | 793 ANSWERS Leafs appear to be hurting the development of one young player by limiting his ice time Does Timothy Liljegren belong in the Leafs' top-4 on a consistent basis? | ||
| Yes, definitely | 331 | 41.7 % |
| No, he doesn't deserve it yet | 209 | 26.4 % |
| I'm cool with adjusting on a game-to-game basis | 253 | 31.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
