The defenseman felt his stomach ache a week and a half before Maple Leafs training camp was set to open. He'll make his season debut against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
It was a day in late August when Timothy Liljegren felt his stomach ache.
"I didn't think much of it," Liljegren said
Having already flown over from Sweden where he spent most of his off-season training, Liljegren took the issue to the Toronto Maple Leafs' training staff where a hernia was discovered around his belly button. Surgery was performed immediately after and then the healing process began.
"The first couple of weeks it's tough to get moving again and then hold your body back up again," Liljegren recalled.
He managed to finally get back on skates in early October and the 23-year-old will make his season debut when the Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Liljegren will skate alongside Morgan Rielly, who had been shuffled with different defensive partners since TJ Brodie was moved over to the left side to skate with Justin Holl.
"He's a great skater," Rielly said of Liljegren. "He's got a good feel for things. I don't expect, it'll take long for him to get into game shape and in mid-season form."
An offensive defenseman for much of his hockey playing days before the Maple Leafs drafted him 17th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, Liljegren took some time to adjust to his game for success at the NHL level.
"Starting at the AHL, the offense wasn't as easy to come by [for Liljegren]" Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe explained. "He really had to work to embrace the defensive part of his game. The reality is that's the foundation that gives a lot of defensemen an opportunity to play in this league."
Liljegren found his groove last season, his first as a full-time NHLer. He scored five goals and had 24 points in 74 games. He seemed to find his fit late last season when he skated regularly on the right side of Mark Giordano, immediately after the veteran was acquired from the Seattle Kraken on Mar. 20.
Toronto rewarded their defenseman with a two-year, $2.8 million contract extension in June.
Liljegren played in two games with the Toronto Marlies last week as part of a conditioning stint and recorded one assist. With the understanding that his NHL debut will be very different, the Maple Leafs hope Liljegren will pick up where he ended off last spring during the end of the regular season, while giving the Leafs another option on the right side of defense.
"I'm just hoping he'll go out there and be himself," Keefe said. "He was an important part of our game at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill and it was tough not having him through camp and the early going of the season."