Come on man. Liljegren does not have the hands, vision, deception to carry the puck at the NHL level. Thats some of his problem, Liljegren does not look good at all when he goes for a skate at the NHL level. Not right now at least.
Liljegren needs to play a Ron Hainsey style. Liljegren strength is his skating, he can focus on gap control, puck management, make simple plays to get the puck out of the zone, battle in the corners for possession. That should be his phase 1. Liljegren will not make the NHL, if he tries to be a puck moving d-man at the start of his career. IF he passes phase 1, he will be comfortable and confident to possibly start using stretch passes , pinching, rush more with the puck etc. Not alot of glory playing defense first style for alot of dmen but its so incredibly valuable.
One of the most under rated things about Justin Holl's game , is his timing for pinching is excellent. Its not often, but when he does he has room and space and goes for it. It somewhat, catches teams off guard.