With high expectations going into this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs hoped the 24-year-old would take a step in his game, but that hasn't been the case.
With high expectations going into this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs hoped the 24-year-old would take a step in his game, but that hasn't been the case.
There were high hopes for Timothy Liljegren going into this season.
But the Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman admitted following practice on Tuesday that he hasn't been the best version of himself.
"I don’t feel like I’m at the top of my game. I’m struggling with it right now," Liljegren said. "I’m trying to grind through it and hopefully find my groove again."
It's been a turbulent year for the 24-year-old Swede to say the least.
In the final year of a two-year, $2.8 million contract, the Leafs were hoping that Liljegren could take the next step in his game and push for a regular top-four defensive role.
Liljegren is an everyday player, but he's been relegated to the team's third pair alongside 40-year-old veteran Mark Giordano, who has struggled alongside him. Liljegren and Giordano started this season as the third pair as the Leafs gave the Jake McCabe-John Klingberg pairing a run, but as Klingberg struggled, the hope from management was for Liljegren to battle for that spot.
That hasn't happened.
Meanwhile, Simon Benoit, a free agent signing toward the end of the summer has supplanted him into the top-four spot.
In early November, Liljegren suffered a high-ankle sprain when he was tripped along the corner boards by Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand. The defenseman hasn't used it as an excuse and says he's fully healthy. When he returned in mid-December, Klingberg had already been shut down for the season with a hip injury, and TJ Brodie began to show signs of struggling. The club opted to put Liljegren in the top pair with Morgan Rielly for a game but eventually reverted to putting Brodie back in his original spot.
And Liljegren has just been kind of there. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what he needed to do to get out of his funk.
"I don’t know. I think at every point in the season players go through a little bit of adversity and that’s what I’m doing right now," Liljegren said. "I’m trying to grind through it and I’m sure I’ll find my level."
The focus on Liljegren has been heightened after Monday's 3-2 loss when the defenseman was on the ice and was unable to prevent New York Islanders rookie Kyle MacLean from getting out of the penalty box and getting behind him for man for a goal.
After describing the goal allowed as "Peewee stuff", Keefe acknowledged there were numerous people, including himself, that were to blame for the situation that took place.
But now Keefe is focused on helping Liljegren restore his game. And if the Leafs are going to improve defensively in the way they are currently constructed, they need him to level up.
"He’s taken steps over the last year and the coming into this year there’s an expectation, all of a sudden," Keefe said. "[He's] not just a young guy finding his way, but for us, he’s an established NHL player that looking to take on more and that hasn’t gone as well as he would expect or we would have hoped.
"But that doesn’t mean he’s still not doing good things, capable of good things."
There's a lot at stake for Liljegren to finish strong. He'll be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and new GM Brad Treliving is looking to fill out his defense that only has three players (Rielly, McCabe and Conor Timmins) under contract for next season.
The last couple of months will determine if Liljegren is just a bottom-pair defenseman or if he's capable of being more than that. If he can't get to that top-four status, does it make sense to give him a raise and retain the Swede or does it become time to move on?
"The last couple of weeks, I've been grinding through it but I'll find my usual level again.
Liljegren has two goals and seven assists in 31 games this season while averaging 19:04 per game.
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