The Leafs announced the signing of Liljegren moments before the 5pm deadline to issue qualifying offers to restricted free agents. The deal sees Liljegren more than double his yearly salary, as he will earn $3M per season through 2025-26.
The move comes as a bit of a surprise given the Leafs' cap crunch, but the fact that he was their only right-shot defenseman at times, it made sense to retain him as a safety net in case the Leafs are unable to sign any right-shot free agent defencemen.
Reports indicated the Leafs had been shopping the 25-year-old but teams were wary of a potential arbitration award being too high. This new deal could help facilitate a trade and free up additional cap room for the Leafs, if Brad Treliving opts to go that route.
