Liljegren signed a two-year extension worth $6 million in June, just before the defenseman was eligible to file for salary arbitration.
Liljegren signed a two-year extension worth $6 million in June, just before the defenseman was eligible to file for salary arbitration.
Timothy Liljegren understands what is at stake at Toronto Maple Leafs training camp.
Despite being a regular season staple for the past three seasons, the Swedish defenseman can take nothing for granted given the newfound depth of the club's defense.
Under new head coach Craig Berube, Liljegren has a clean slate. But the coach's message was simple.
"His point to me was that it's an important year. There's a lot of good defensemen on the team right now, so there is competition," Liljegren told The Hockey News on Friday. "He seems like a pretty straightforward guy, fair, so, only good impressions so far."
The 25-year-old defenseman has been in the Maple Leafs' system since the club drafted him in the first round (17th overall) at the 2017 NHL Draft, but he's only been an everyday player in the NHL for the last three seasons.
The 2023-24 season presented a big opportunity for Liljegren to take that next step. Despite being selected for just seven of the club's 18 total playoff games in 2022 and 2023, then-head coach Sheldon Keefe gave the defender a chance to become an everyday player in the playoffs.
Despite Keefe's assertion that the trade deadline was a possible contributor to the player's struggles last season, the mistakes extended past March. After he was on the ice for two key even-strength Boston Bruins' goals in Toronto's Game 3 playoff loss to the Boston Bruins this past spring, Liljegren was benched before returning for Games 5 and the remainder of the series.
Liljegren has made it a focus to limit miscues this summer by putting a focus on his conditioning. The player has been training at Crossfit Angelholm's Hockeyfit and Performance for the last six years. Their Instagram account features several hockey clients working out, including Liljegren.
In Timothy's case, many of the videos feature the Swede putting a heavy emphasis on his cardio.
Liljegren did his usual strength training, but shifted the focus later in the summer to heavy cardio intending. The goal was to help him make better decisions in the final 10-15 seconds of his shifts, particularly if he's pinned in the defensive zone.
"If you get stuck in D-zone, it's more like being conditioned enough where you can think at the same time if that makes sense," Liljegren explained. "It's easy to make mistakes when you're tired. So yeah, just kind of get a little bit better at making good decisions at every shift."
This is consistent with Berube's approach of wanting to build a team that will battle for every puck and be difficult to play against. Losing battles in a way Liljegren did at times last season simply won't fly under the new bench boss.
Having a clear mind is was also important for Liljegren.
Last year, he finished the final year of a two-year contract that paid him an average of $1.4 million annually. The Leafs did not want to get into a spot where the player could have elected for arbitration. Before the deadline, Liljegren and the Leafs agreed to a two-year extension worth $6 million.
"I did a pretty good job of just kind of letting my agent handle it," Liljegren said. "I was focusing on training, enjoying my summer.
"Whenever they called me and I had something to say obviously talked to them, but I was pretty confident it was going to work out."
Lilejgren has been paired with Simon Benoit through the first few days of training camp. As he has been with all of his players, new head coach Craig Berube has given the player a clean slate. Hakanpaa, another right-shot defenseman, has been skating with the team's extra group as works on his conditioning and could join the main groups as soon as this upcoming week.
But so far Berube has liked what he's seen from Liljegren thus far.
"I think he's been very noticeable for me, moving to puck well, making good decisions, he's a smart player (from) what I see," Berube said. "He's got good skills, good puck skills, so he's been good."
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