When drafted he was a high risk offensive Dman, who I thought had pretty good gap control back then but made high risk plays trying to generate offense that would end up as an odd man rush. He also needed to add strength. When he first arrived in the AHL he was getting outmuscled a lot.
Since then people didn't see the point totals that they were expecting from him in his first couple seasons with the Marlies but I think the staff wanted him to focus more on the defensive end and try to eliminate his high risk plays and slow the game down and make smart decisions. He really has done that over the last 3 seasons. He also is now built like a fire hydrant and we don't see him getting knocked down much anymore.
Now I would consider him a 2 way D man who is solid in his end and excellent in transition. He is starting to put up the numbers we were expecting as his role has increased and has got a role as the pp quarter back. I have watched him live 3 times so far this year and around 10 games on tv and has been the best D man on the Marlies including Sandin. Winter soldier just cherry picks videos of him getting beat to try to say he is a horrible defensman and a bust. I could do the same thing to someone like Drew Doughty, doesn't mean he is a bad D man.
Agreed, I compare his progression to Kapanen who also completely changed his game since coming overseas. To echo a few points:
Lilj is a unique modern defensemen. I'd say his greatest strength is transition game, rather than offense/defense. He moves the puck up ice better than most D-men in his league and has elite breakout passing ability. He can go tape to tape 100ft like its nothing. His evasiveness in the d-zone is Gardiner/Girard-esque which makes him effective against heavy forechecking teams like Charlotte, where he showed he was individually better than guys like Bean, Fleury, etc. head to head in their playoff series last season, despite losing.
Draft: diminutive, high-skill, one-dimensional offensive D-man.
D+1: put up historic numbers for his age group as an 18 year old given mostly defensive tasks.
D+2: top PK, started the season slow production wise, got injured (missed WJC), and then finished the season with a monster playoff run that was the best hockey we had seen from him to that point.
D+3: overall dominant both offensively and defensively, finally given top PP time, best PPG of his age group for D, much bigger physically.
I'd definitely classify him as 2-way but he is solid across the board. Far from perfect, but can complement any pair he's on.
