Tribute Timothy Liljegren Discussion

[stickty111]

Now that he is up, we may as well make a thread on the kid.
Only 2 games, but he has looked good so far, if a tad nervous.
Ian Tulloch gave him a 4 star performance today. Here is what he said.

This is my favourite game I’ve seen Liljegren play at the NHL level, including his preseason stints over the last couple of years. He finally looks confident with the puck on the breakout, making smart passes under pressure to get the play going in the right direction. It’s yet to be seen if he can lock down a full-time roster spot by chipping in on PK2, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him these last couple of games. He and Rasmus Sandin have really good chemistry when they go back on a puck. It helps that they’re playing sheltered minutes, but I still thought they looked really smooth in this game.

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[Dekes For Days]

I thought he looked solid tonight.

I hope they keep that pairing together.

 

[TorontoTrades]

Didnt stand out tonight which is a good thing. Steady game for him.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Didn't play much at all but played well for when he did play. Hope Keefe gives him a longer leash over the next few weeks.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Looks like a great pick so far.

 

[Kiwi]

He looks solid if a little afraid to make a mistake, which is understandable

I think Keefe needs to start giving the bottom pair a few more minutes if at all possible

The top 4 is starting to bend

 

[stickty111]

He looks solid if a little afraid to make a mistake, which is understandable

I think Keefe needs to start giving the bottom pair a few more minutes if at all possible

The top 4 is starting to bend

In the 1st, he looked a little rushed when handling the puck as in a bit erratic. You can tell he is a little nervous.
Is it bad that he is the only one you trust a little defensively along with Muzzin?

 

[Kiwi]

In the 1st, he looked a little rushed when handling the puck as in a bit erratic. You can tell he is a little nervous.
Is it bad that he is the only one you trust a little defensively along with Muzzin?

That's exceedingly bad, although Holl looked better today thank God

Liljegren calmed down as the game went on i thought and even though he looked rushed with the puck on his stick early you could see his defensive IQ when he didn't have it

That's very positive

As for the rest of it, I think we need to trade for somebody because Keefe doesn't trust the kids, Barrie is a complete moron and Dermott looks like he's about to have some sort of a nervous breakdown

Muzzin and Holl can't do all the heavy lifting and play 25 minutes a night, they just can't

 

[DanM]

That's exceedingly bad, although Holl looked better today thank God

Liljegren calmed down as the game went on i thought and even though he looked rushed with the puck on his stick early you could see his defensive IQ when he didn't have it

That's very positive

As for the rest of it, I think we need to trade for somebody because Keefe doesn't trust the kids, Barrie is a complete moron and Dermott looks like he's about to have some sort of a nervous breakdown

Muzzin and Holl can't do all the heavy lifting and play 25 minutes a night, they just can't

I would love to trade for backend help as well, but not at the expense of more picks and players off our roster.

Eventually having depth will no longer apply if we trade forwards off the roster. Secondly we need to have picks to draft and replenish, especially as a cap team.

I think we ride this out. If we get in, great, and if we miss, evaluate. People who think missing the playoffs is the end of the world are wrong.

But emptying the cupboards is the last thing we need. Remember when we use to have no prospects? Brutal!

 

[Kiwi]

I would love to trade for backend help as well, but not at the expense of more picks and players off our roster.

Eventually having depth will no longer apply if we trade forwards off the roster. Secondly we need to have picks to draft and replenish, especially as a cap team.

I think we ride this out. If we get in, great, and if we miss, evaluate. People who think missing the playoffs is the end of the world are wrong.

But emptying the cupboards is the last thing we need. Remember when we use to have no prospects? Brutal!

We miss we lose our first anyway, baring some type of lottery miracle

We have Liljeren, Sandin and Robertson who I'd call very, very good prospects and we have managed to find guys like Moore and Mikheyev in UFA and Johnsson and Engvall in the 7th round

There are smart cost effective ways of replenishing the system without needing to rely on the draft to harvest the bulk of your talent

Windows of contention don't stay open forever, if you think this team can win this year it's incumbent on management to roll that particular dice and acquire talent to supplement the core

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

In the 1st, he looked a little rushed when handling the puck as in a bit erratic. You can tell he is a little nervous.
Is it bad that he is the only one you trust a little defensively along with Muzzin?

Yeah there was one shift I recall where Sandin passed it over to him in the D-Zone and Liljegren struggled to get a handle on it. Almost caused a turnover but he and Sandin played out of it.

Still though, would rather a 21 year old make those mistakes than a vet. He'll learn.

 

[sittler rules!!!]

He looks solid if a little afraid to make a mistake, which is understandable

I think Keefe needs to start giving the bottom pair a few more minutes if at all possible

The top 4 is starting to bend[/QUOTE

In the 1st, he looked a little rushed when handling the puck as in a bit erratic. You can tell he is a little nervous.
Is it bad that he is the only one you trust a little defensively along with Muzzin?

Agree. Barrie was a turnover machine again last night and it appears Dermott is taking his lead. When Mo comes back Dermott may be the odd man out or flip Barrie ar TDL and move Dermott to the right

 

[hullsy47]

Didnt stand out tonight which is a good thing. Steady game for him.

U can tell he has nothing more to learn in the minors
Him and sandin are ahead of ceci Barrie and dermott IMO

 

[lipstickjunkie]

I think he's looked really solid. Good skater, good passer, defensively sound, and not afraid to clear the crease. I think once he gets comfortable I'm gonna like him more than Sandin (who also looks good).

 

[ER89]

Like people have said, he looks visibly nervous. But he makes the right plays and he even saved a goal yesterday with an active stick. But the play that impressed me the most was the 2-1 where he was chasing his man, and he chased him to his defense partner and then tailed off to cover the passing lane of the second guy which resulted in a non shot. Very very smart and something I enjoyed tremendously.

 

[A1LeafNation]

You want the top pair getting exposed more than the bottom pair ( because it can get to their confidence).

Third pair minutes will increase organically.

 

[Papa Cherry]

You can tell as his confidence grows, he's just going to get better every game.

 

[DarkKnight]

Looks good. To the OP and others who lost their minds when people dared suggest it might be 4 years post draft before he becomes a Top 4 D man, it’s now second half of year 3 and he looks ready to make the jump, right on track. People confuse development with trashing a kid, he wasn’t ready, he went down and dominated and now he comes up confident and some measure of refinement in his game.

We’ve developed this kid perfectly, he always had the raw tools, but if you were being fair at all you could see it was a process. Again, I’ll stick with 4-5 years post draft to become a top 4, the hyperventilating ridiculousness one had to endure for the suggestion, now looks embarrassing. Here we sit, exactly as floated.

 

[horner]

Trade Barrie

Muzzin Holl
? Ljiligren
Sandin. Dermot

Trade Barrie someone will give us a 1st
Trade Johnson + asset from the Barrie trade
Dermot not to crazy about him either

 

[Nylander88]

Trade Barrie

At this point we get better just by trading Barrie. Addition by subtraction. I can't believe how poor he is defensively. One of Johnsson/Kerfoot still needs to be moved for help on the back-end too

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

glad he's finally getting a chance and so far he's looking good

 

[Atomos2]

Trade Barrie

Muzzin Holl
? Ljiligren
Sandin. Dermot

Trade Barrie someone will give us a 1st
Trade Johnson + asset from the Barrie trade
Dermot not to crazy about him either

Not if someone saw yesterday

At this point we get better just by trading Barrie. Addition by subtraction. I can't believe how poor he is defensively. One of Johnsson/Kerfoot still needs to be moved for help on the back-end too

Barrie and Kapanen for Manson

 

[Once]

One thing I'd add is there is little pressure on him because of the recent trade and playoff push. There was no real hype around him this weekend. I think he'll silently emerge as a favourite here, if not already for some.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Liked the Anaheim game better than the Montreal game, but even when he did make a mistake he was very quick and effective in recovering.

That is something that our other defense lack.

 

[mapleleaf979]

I root for Liljegren based on how humble he is. When he talked about his performance at training camp he was brutally honest and visibly upset at himself. I appreciated this honesty.

He looked good last night. He surprised me a little bit. I recall one 50-60 foot bank pass off the boards to a Leaf player at the opposing blue line. Smart play I didn't see coming. Also he did have some poise last night with the puck, he didn't pass to his D partner to early either, he waiting for the pressure to commit to him and deceptively was moving the puck. I want to see more of Liljegren in the NHL right now, im not 100% convinced yet of his decision making given what ive seen from him in the past.