Report: Maple Leafs In Search Of 'Landing Spot' For Timothy Liljegren After Being Healthy Scratch For Season Opener

Liljegren admitted last week that his training camp with the Maple Leafs hasn't gone as well as he had hoped.

It appears the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to find Timothy Liljegren a new home.

The defenseman wasn't in Toronto's opening night lineup on Wednesday night in Montreal. Liljegren has also been on his off side during Maple Leafs practices this week.

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman in his latest written 32 Thoughts, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving is trying to find a new team for the 25-year-old defenseman.

"Sounds like Toronto is working to find a landing spot for Timothy Liljegren," Friedman wrote. "He’s down the depth chart, not a situation anyone is happy with."

Liljegren has been Toronto's seventh or eighth defenseman in practice for some time now. Even when Jake McCabe missed practice with a lower-body injury, it wasn't Liljegren who was filling in, it was Philippe Myers.

When McCabe returned to practice, Liljegren, a right-handed shot, was skating on the left side while Myers and Jani Hakanpaa both got reps on their normal side.

"Lilly's got to do things quicker. He's got to be a little bit heavier in his battles and move into pucks quicker and simplify the game," Berube said on Friday. "He's obviously battling. He wants to be a guy in the lineup every night, and that's great. But sometimes you kind of put too much on your plate, right?

"Simplify the game a little bit more. If I had to say anything, simplify his game a little bit more. And just do your job as a defenseman, killing plays and being heavy."

Liljegren is in the first year of a two-year, $6 million contract he signed on June 30. He scored three goals and 20 assists in 55 games with the Maple Leafs last season while averaging 19:40 of ice time.

This is not the situation both sides wanted but with a lot of depth on the back end, decisions like these are sometimes made.

"I don't know. I just haven't really had that much flow in my game," Liljegren said last week. "I think it's been okay but not my best hockey."

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