Prospect Info: Timothy Liljegren - AHL Edition

[Wafflewhipper]

First off , I said a Trouba type. Secondly, we have winger depth with nothing at C and questions in goal ie Woll. IMHO Liljegren will act as a Gardiner calibre D one day. We are OK on D since Reilly, Z , Dermott and Borgman are all young. We need to upgrade our top 3 d and it is trade unless you wait for Liljegren, which I doubt we will do. Gardiner is the likely piece because he isn't what this team needs defensively to win a cup. For example Brown or Kapanen plus Gardiner gets you ?

Lou could trade gardiner and Jvr and Bozak and Komarov and take Polak out of the lineup and easily replace them.

Liljigren can replace Polak as a right shot right today easily and Babcock could shelter Dermott and him on the third pair as a safety net.

In ten games people would see Lilly and Dermott make a good name for themselves and improve our team significantly. There i said it!!!!!

 

[Wafflewhipper]

My guess is they'll give Timmy a good look at training camp, but even then he likely starts the year in the Marlies and comes up around Christmas/New Year's, similar to Dermott.

He is ready right now and would improve the defense paired with his Marlies partner Dermott as our third pair.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

He is ready right now and would improve the defense paired with his Marlies partner Dermott as our third pair.

Sh!t what happened there????

 

[WTFMAN99]

First off , I said a Trouba type. Secondly, we have winger depth with nothing at C and questions in goal ie Woll. IMHO Liljegren will act as a Gardiner calibre D one day. We are OK on D since Reilly, Z , Dermott and Borgman are all young. We need to upgrade our top 3 d and it is trade unless you wait for Liljegren, which I doubt we will do. Gardiner is the likely piece because he isn't what this team needs defensively to win a cup. For example Brown or Kapanen plus Gardiner gets you ?

Hopefully Muzzin?

 

[Battle Lin]

lol hes not ready yet, lilly got quite a bit of work to do on the defensive end and with his strength and physicality...playing D isnt like being a forward, you can lack size and strength and physical play if you have great skills as a forward...but you MUST be ready physically on D, a lot of young D who make it have mature bodies, he gets pushed around at junior level and in ahl still

but if the puck never crosses half ice onto our side, then yes he can for sure play not only on our 3rd pairing, maybe even 2nd or dam maybe even 1st

 

[Nithoniniel]

he gets pushed around at junior

Eh, it's quite the opposite at junior level. He was perhaps the most prolific hitter in the tournament, and didn't really have any problems in the puck battles.

 

[darrylsittler27]

I like Liljegren but even Reilly did his time. They don't rush guys anymore. Waiting till 19 to play in the NHL isn't that bad of an idea. We have Dermott and Borgman to play that 3rd pairing.

Reilly - Hainsey
( ? ) - Zaitsev
Dermott - Borgman

I don't see the spot for him if we trade for a true top 3 Dman. Gardiner has peaked.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

lol hes not ready yet, lilly got quite a bit of work to do on the defensive end and with his strength and physicality...playing D isnt like being a forward, you can lack size and strength and physical play if you have great skills as a forward...but you MUST be ready physically on D, a lot of young D who make it have mature bodies, he gets pushed around at junior level and in ahl still

but if the puck never crosses half ice onto our side, then yes he can for sure play not only on our 3rd pairing, maybe even 2nd or dam maybe even 1st

Dermott and Lilly could be our third pair tomorrow and be very good in that sheltered role. Hell Marner's line would be improved with them two out with his line.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Eh, it's quite the opposite at junior level. He was perhaps the most prolific hitter in the tournament, and didn't really have any problems in the puck battles.

Thats what i noticed and watched for in particular. Lol Lilly is ready right now for third pair with Dermott.

Not gojng to try forcing my opinion the good people though.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I like Liljegren but even Reilly did his time. They don't rush guys anymore. Waiting till 19 to play in the NHL isn't that bad of an idea. We have Dermott and Borgman to play that 3rd pairing.

Reilly - Hainsey
( ? ) - Zaitsev
Dermott - Borgman

I don't see the spot for him if we trade for a true top 3 Dman. Gardiner has peaked.

The Borg is solid!!!!!

 

[Mr Hockey]

Dermott and Lilly could be our third pair tomorrow and be very good in that sheltered role. Hell Marner's line would be improved with them two out with his line.

C'mon lol, Lily had a good ending to the tourney but he was possibly the #3/4 /5 d'man on just the Swedish team. Lily needs a 2-3 more years in the AHL.

 

[stickty111]

Lilly isnt ready. Forget about the idea that he is.
However he isnt far away. He might be about a year from NHL ready.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

C'mon lol, Lily had a good ending to the tourney but he was possibly the #3/4 /5 d'man on just the Swedish team. Lily needs a 2-3 more years in the AHL.

Lilly had a good tournament period.

They were mentioning quite a bit during the tourney that he was not collecting points.

He was concerned with defense throughout the tourney and you could tell he was deliberately playing a passive rush game most of the time. He picked his spots well when he did jump up into any play.

Lilly is intelligent enough to know that he will make his impression on leafs management with his defensive play if he's to get his chance.

Lilly knows, fans know and management knows easily that the skating, first pass, skating and hockey IQ, his shot and general offensive game is really elite.

He was impressive and surprised me with his physical strength and some heavy hits.

I believe he's ready for 3rd pair defensemen! I really do think he deserves a try sooner rather than later.

So there you have it lol. Nothing tells me he is not strong enough or smart enough to do a good nhl job now.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

C'mon lol, Lily had a good ending to the tourney but he was possibly the #3/4 /5 d'man on just the Swedish team. Lily needs a 2-3 more years in the AHL.

there's no way he was the #5 dman on the Swedish team. get a clue please

 

[stickty111]

Lol at the guy who says he is 3 seasons away and 5 from being an impact d man. There is something called being wrong, there is something called pure dumbness.

 

[4thline]

there's no way he was the #5 dman on the Swedish team. get a clue please

Well
If you ignore that he was one of 2 d trusted to drive pairs at es
Focus on lesser dmen having higher shift counts (ignoring that a high count low/ ave length combo is a trademark sign of lack of trust)
Focus on lesser dmen having higher icetime in a couple games (ignoring that they were pp/pkfests and that he missed time with injury during)

Sure lol

 

[HandshakeLineRespect]

I can’t believe people actually think Lily is ready to be a full time NHLer. And it’s even more unbelievable people think this management team should set him up to fail and jam him in the lineup now.

 

[Zybalto]

Having an excellent 2 way puck mover like Dermott really helps us not force our hand with Liljegren.

Let him win down there this year with an excellent AHL squad and he'll be ready for the rigors of the NHL next year. If we get slammed with injuries or are in a tailspin near the end of the season, then is the time to roll the dice.

 

[stickty111]

I can’t believe people actually think Lily is ready to be a full time NHLer. And it’s even more unbelievable people think this management team should set him up to fail and jam him in the lineup now.

There is only one person saying he is ready.

 

[BorntoLose]

Liljegren said himself he didnt think hes ready for the NHL. Waiting it out will let us keep him on his ELC longer in the years where having an impact Dmen with that cap hit will be much more valuable as the kids will all be getting paid.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Liljegren needs at least one more season in the minors working on his defensive game. He's a good prospect with terrific tools but the Jake Gardiner impressions aren't helping his cause.

 

[A1LeafNation]

I like Liljegren but even Reilly did his time. They don't rush guys anymore. Waiting till 19 to play in the NHL isn't that bad of an idea. We have Dermott and Borgman to play that 3rd pairing.

Reilly - Hainsey
( ? ) - Zaitsev
Dermott - Borgman

I don't see the spot for him if we trade for a true top 3 Dman. Gardiner has peaked.

2019-20 season:

Rielly(year 7) Zaitsev(year 4)
Dermott(year 3) Liljegren(year 2)
Borgman(year 3) Vet
Vet Ozhiganov(year2)

 

[stickty111]

Liljegren needs at least one more season in the minors working on his defensive game. He's a good prospect with terrific tools but the Jake Gardiner impressions aren't helping his cause.

He gets the positive Jake Gardiner impressions so thats fine. He doesnt make glaring mistakes that Jake does.
With that being said, I dont see him comparable to Jake in terms of play style.

 

[TML1967]

Wjc he started the tourney very sheltered.
Gold medal game, he was paired with Dahlin on the top pair for the majority of the game.

His skating and strength have improved since the draft, and I'd bet he is still going to improve even more as the mono lost time is likely still being recouped.

If he can spend the rest of the year focusing on D and outlet passes, not rushing the puck I'd be extatic.

If he can put on another 10 pounds or so of lower body and core strength of be pumped!

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

Yeah he needs another year or possibly two years of more seasoning and development then he will be ready to rock n roll.