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The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to begin their 2024-25 season against the rival Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre — and young defenseman Timothy Liljegren could be a healthy scratch for that contest.
As it stands, the blue line consists of Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jake McCabe, Conor Timmins and Simon Benoit, per Daily Faceoff. That makes Liljegren the seventh defenseman and odd man out on the defensive unit.
The Athletic's Jonas Siegel speculated that the front office could look to trade the 25-year-old to get his $3 million AAV off the books.
“The Leafs were open to trading Timothy Liljegren in the summer as the threat of arbitration loomed. They eventually brought him back on a two-year deal. He has already fallen down the depth chart and maybe even out of the opening night lineup,” Siegel reported late last week.
“At practice on Friday, it was Conor Timmins who again landed the right-side gig on a prospective third pair with Simon Benoit. Liljegren was the third wheel to Marshall Rafai and Jani Hakanpaa. (Philippe Myers even got the nod to fill in for the injured Jake McCabe).”
Leafs coach Craig Berube made it clear earlier in the offseason that Liljegren needed to be “a little heavier in his battles” and move pucks “quicker and simplify the game,” per Siegel.
The hockey insider wonders if Toronto might be able to make a trade to move on from the former first-round pick.
“Liljegren earning $3 million on the cap (for this season and next) as the seventh defenceman wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he continued. “Does Liljegren earning $3 million on the cap have any trade value? Would it be wise for the Leafs, with an older blue line with injury questions, be wise to trade the youngest of the bunch?”
Leafs are still struggling with cap space
Even if the Leafs were only able to recoup a draft pick, getting Liljegren's $3 million off the books probably wouldn't be a bad idea. According to PuckPedia, Toronto is still more than $4 million over the salary cap, although that could change if a few players are placed on injured reserve.
Still, it looks like the former No. 17 overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft could be approaching the end of his time in Ontario — and he's prepared to potentially move on.
“Everything can happen, right? I’m just trying to take it day by day. I know we got to make some changes, so we’ll see where it goes,” Liljegren said on Friday, per Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun. “Trying to earn my spot. Haven’t really had that much flow in my game. I think it’s been OK, but not my best hockey.”
The team's cap constraints and depth issues on defense leave a plethora of questions ahead of Wednesday's season opener. Liljegren's future is a key factor in the Leafs' short-term direction, and it'll be interesting to see if the team decides to move on from Liljegren this season.
