Interesting people have Liljegren as our #5 prospect in terms of upside. When I watch him play in the AHL, I think he has more pure upside than Sandin. He has nasty hands for a dman and is a pretty shifty and elusive skater. He makes forecheckers look downright stupid with his puck skills in the defensive end on a regular basis. Like Sandin, he has strong passing ability, and he has a powerful shot to boot. They both can be effective players in transition because of their elite puck moving ability, but I think Liljegren's better skating and hands will let him be a good puck carrier at the next level. He is bigger, stronger and significantly better defensively than Sandin. The only things that Sandin has over him that I can think of is pure hockey IQ and he is better at getting his shot through to the net. He might put up better offensive numbers, but I don't think he will be as impactful overall. If Liljegren played like he does in the AHL at the NHL level, he would be seen as an easy top pairing guy, if not a #1. I'd have him #2 based purely on ceiling in our prospect pool after Amirov. With Robertson and Sandin close behind.
I'd have it like this:
Upside:
Amirov
Liljegren
Sandin
Robertson
Niemela
HM: Miettinen
Readiness:
Liljegren
Sandin
Anderson
Robertson
Kokkonen
HM: Gogolev