I am fairly confident Juolevi will clearly be better also. He is gritty and projects to be a good #3 IMO. His understated play was instrumental in London's memorial cup win.
Lilegren has too many question marks. To add on to Friedman's report of Kings preferring Durzi over Lilegren. Dreger reported on first up the Leafs would have preferred that he was included in the Muzzin trade also, 41:45 he clearly says this. Too many insiders reporting this for it not to be true.
https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/first-up-may-6-2019-hour-2-1.1301313
Good point about Juolevi's AHL numbers being better than Lilegren also.
Did you really just say because too many insiders are speculating something that it has to be true? You must realize how many random thoughts get thrown around by insiders on a daily basis. Friedman is the poster child for this as well. Every Saturday he just says what he's thinking on air and people take it for gospel sometimes. Dreger has a bad rap, but at least he tries to pass off his thoughts as insider information so we can all debate whether they're true. Friedman a lot of the time clearly says they're just his thoughts and not coming from any inside information so I don't know why we treat them otherwise.
Jake Gardiner is a perfect example. I read all summer long from countless insiders how he's got a handshake deal in place with MTL or BUF or how he's coming back to the Leafs after Marner signs. Not a single peep on Carolina until it was done. It's their job to give opinions even if they have nothing from an inside source.
Countless is the key word with Gardiner and the insider quotes. On the other hand, there's been very few people even speculating LA preferred Durzi over Liljegren, not "too many insiders for it not to be true". It just grew into a theme on these boards after that first quote came out so people now treat it like it's fact. After the trade went down the majority of people were shocked they could have pulled it off without giving up Sandin or Liljegren because according to most insiders those were clearly the Leafs best two prospects.
Personally I think the Durzi preference speculation is just that...speculation. I would be beyond shocked if TOR or LA actually had Durzi rated higher than Liljegren; it just doesn't make any sense IMO after what we've seen from both prospects so far. They're still young prospects afterall so obviously either could turn out to be the better player long term, but come on. If you have the choice between these two players right now it's a pretty simple choice.
