Liljjegren had a lot of potential, he's shown in stints that's he a solid top four puck moving defenceman. I think his lapses are mental, seems to be playing without confidence. I suspect Keefe is largely to blame, he's failed to develop a single young Leaf defenceman that had potential (Dermott, Sandin, Liljegren, Timmins). I'd wager he puts it together in SJ, given an opportunity to play in the top 4 with a bit of rope.
My head canon is that Dermott spinorama giveaway in Montreal game 6 OT broke something inside of Keefe. The Leafs exclusively got tougher, older D-men after that, and almost refused to trust their young guns in the playoffs.
With Liljegren you are dealing with potential. If the Sharks thinks they can make him reach his potential then its a decent trade for them. Because Liljegrens upside is pretty big. But if they cant make him reach his potential, well...
Pretty tough to say Liljegren "got his shot" under Berube. Maybe the same way Willy got an actual shot at centre. I feel bad for him. Every time he actually took a step forward he got hurt. Last time he just never got his game back. This year you could tell his confidence was shot, even in his limited minutes.
Liljegren stunk in the playoffs and was constantly scratched when it mattered most. Horrible in front of the net, horrible along the boards, slow with decision making. He's best when there's lots of room on the ice and that rarely happens in the playoffs.
I like it. Help Lilly out by putting him in a situation where he KNOWS he's getting Ice Time, Leafs clear cap and can burry Benning in the Minors. This is one of those trades that both teams come out of looking pretty damn good.
As a Washington Capitals fan, it reminds me of the Rasmus Sandin trade. But I think that Washington did better in acquiring Sandin than San Jose has done in acquiring Liljegren. Still both good trades made by teams at the expense of the Leafs who don't seem to do a good job developing defensemen.
Good Luck in San Jose Lilly! It's a damn shame it didn't work out in Toronto. I hope he does well out there. He's gonna get lots of ice time to prove himself I'm sure. I like this trade for both teams. I didn't expect the Leafs to get back two draft picks and a top 6 Dman..but I think they'll still have to clear some cap in order to activate the players from LTIR 🤔 Not sure, but good work Tre 👏 Go Leafs Go!
Honestly timmy wasn't a bad player. Just not worth 3m. Seemed like the kind of guy that just lacked serious confidence. When he played instinctively he was good. Problem was it didn't happen often.
His "metrics" were great and he might have gotten much more in arbitration. Yah, I know. But I don't think they really had a good choice. Five million for one year would not be better.
Considering Edmunson, Boosh and Brodie all got +3 mil/per yr while being on the wrong side of their primes, I didn't think Liljegren's contract was that bad.
Good trade for both sides possibly. Leaf's always need cap space and he didn't fit in with this team plus got some assets to use. Shark's get a younger defense with upside on a rebuilding team. Good gamble for them. Good for him as well as he will get a chance to kickstart his career.
He is, but on the current leafs d he doesn't have a spot. He and timmens have played about the same level this year, and he is worth 2 mil more this year, so it just becomes not worth it. I doubt he was happy sitting and the management werent happy with his cap hit. He will have better opportunities on san jose and i hope he does good there.
Good trade for both teams. And, it should be noted that Benning struggled to be a Top-6 d-man on San Jose. He has been benched and healthy scratched a lot in the first 10 games so far this season. And, given the least amount of ice time amongst the 6 d-men when he does play. Our expectations of Benning on the Leafs shouldn't be too high.
I still want an interview where Treliving explains his thought process behind Liljegren's raise Wish him the best and I hope he becomes a regular NHLer, but I'm glad we got a decent return and got rid of his cap hit
Same reason why Dubas gave Marner a big contract when he was an RFA. Didn't want to repeat the Nylander scenario. Tree didn't want to go through the arbitration bullshit with Timmy the same as he did with Samsanov.
he was re-signed the day before free agency and could have gotten more in arbitration. my crystal ball couldn't tell me I would be able to sign OEL, Myers, Mermis and Pare in the following days. the fact that they stacked training camp for competition to get on the team and Lilly just showed up thinking he was a shoo in was enough to put him on the trade block
I think Karlsson didn't work out because they already had Burns. Both players played similar roles and cannibalized each others stats. Just look at the year he had in San Jose after Burns got traded. Why they chose Karlsson over Pavelski in the 2019 offseason will always baffle me. They drastically overpaid and sacrificed an extra pick and the heart and soul of their team in the process.
Sharks fan first and leafs enjoyer. I think TOR wins the trade for sure but mostly for the draft capital. Matt Benning was losing his spot to a rookie Jack Thompson that no one saw making the team before camp. Sharks are betting on a guy with some potential, I like it a lot more than Benning doing absolutely nothing for us
I think both teams win, Toronto gets cap space, San Jose off loads a player that likely wouldn't even get claimed on waivers and adds a top 4 defensemen. Yes, average is top 4, almost top pairing in San Jose lol
@@ianhall6614 Just don't expect much, the guy is soft and makes bad defensive choices often, I'm sure playing on the sharks will expose this quite a bit.
Can we stop saying washed up D like Benning are better than Timmins now? I don't understand why you have this huge blind spot and write him off so quickly. You all clearly don't watch him. 13:30 THATS LITERSLLY TIMMINS YOU BABOON
A perfect appraisal of Lilly. You nailed it absolutely. It’s also worth remembering that we had Rasmus Sandin along with Liljegren and we let Sandin go and kept Lilly. Which nobody could figure at the time. I hope he finds his game on the West coast. For his sake. He’s looked desperately unhappy here.
Any time you sell off a former 1st round pick who's still young for some magic beans, it's a move to salvage your loss. If he sucked that bad, why would the Leafs pay him $3mil/year on a multi-year deal...?
Great job, Steve, and THANK YOU. I literally thought this was a money thing for when Calle and Jani were needing to come off of LTIR. And I also hope that Timmy gets his opportunities and succeeds in SJ
The Leafs have always been awful at developing talent. It's easy to forget with guys like Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Rielly all playing major roles, but they're also all quality top 10 picks who would've succeeded anywhere they ended up. Once you start looking outside the obvious you quickly start to realize that almost every promising prospect never achieves much until they leave Toronto.
Detroit had to give SJ a #2 and Jake Walman in exchange for basically nothing. Walman is now a top pair in SJ. Consider yourself lucky that you didn’t have to give SJ a draft pick(s) to dump Liljagren’s salary. But by the same token, Steve Yzerman sucks.
In five years Liljegren will be a top 5 defenseman in the League. This prediction cost me literally nothing to make. Imagine if it were to become true! So Leafy.
"Sheldon, why would you start your worst defenceman in a building you know was going to be this loud..?" "Who was our worst defenceman?" "Justin Holl." "That's your opinion, I guess."
Benning has been mostly a liability for the sharks and Lilijagren has not worked great in Toronto either. Both players need a change in scenery. The third kinda hurts for the sharks but its the price they pay for getting a younger player with a higher ceiling. I think this is a potential win/win for both teams.
Bennings wont be seeing action in Toronto unless things go really wrong. Lily has probably seen his ceiling already, but he's a warm body so I'm sure the sharks don't mind.
Tree managed to turn a Dubalytics Darling who wasn't ripening fast enough into 2 draft picks and a taller, heavier right hand shot who isn't afraid to scrap and is getting 1.5per. What's not to like?
as a stars fan, i find it absolutely hilarious that the maple leafs brass thought a one-legged jani hakanpaa is a better asset than a home-grown puck-moving RHD... you know, something the leafs could actually probably use more of to generate more offense instead of a guy who's big but doesn't use that big to actually do anything, has 0 offensive intuition, and has a fraudulent reputation of being a strong PKer mainly because he PKed next to esa lindell whom has been elite once again with hakanpaa's absence. enjoy the hakanpaa experience toronto. i have never yelled at a player more.
It's all Treliving. The guy clearly has a hard on for big D (no pun intended) It's why he took a gamble on Klingberg last summer despite him being more cooked than a well done steak. It's also why we couldn't generate much on offence during the playoffs, Edmundson and Benoit treated the puck like a grenade so there were never any rush chances or clean breakouts.
Watching this team continually get slower and less killed in favor of "he tough, rah rah" is really disappointing. Reminds me of the 2012-2014 canucks desperately trying to get tougher to be like the 2011 Bruins. Chasing the Panthers' unicorn identity is going to sink the leafs.
It is odd that the Leafs decided to pay a player who is not good enough 3M. A classic Leafs move. The team has been a train wreck at managing the cap for years.
Benning would be a good 7th D to swap with any 6th defenseman if injuries happen. Hope he gets some playing time before the post season so we can see what he’s about!
@DarkLobster69 like, at the very least wait until we know what we are going to do with those picks. That 3rd could provide great value as it will be and early 3rd rd pick. Good player or trade chip. Or it could be wasted on a bust.
@@brandonburgess1990as a leafs fan, he will probably thrive in San Jose with the opportunity he will get. He will have success and become a top 2 dman with them similar to Vince Dunn in Seattle. Then he will win the cup when celebrini, Will smith, eklund all rise to the level they were drafted to be in san jose
Just a note Steve. Saw you at Generals game and after at BONDST event centre after with Jacob Oster last weekend. Wanted to get my “Hockey Rants and Raves” signed, but you were mobbed for signings and photos. It was too late for me to stay. Maybe will hook up again for a signing………
i’m loving the random pieces the sharks are getting for virtually free. he’ll get time here and he makes us better, which is fab sharks weren’t supposed to be better until next season anyway
Absolutely. 25 year old, former first round pick RHD, for just a third, sixth, and old depth defenseman is tidy business. Perfect change of scenery acquisition.
Yeahhhh, I think you'll soon find the picks and asset were worth more. Lily is not good defensively and that's going to get exposed really bad on a worse team.
I'm surprised they were able to unload him without having to give up an asset, but I guess taking back Benning evens that out. Looking at it from a SJ point of view, their right side was Ceci / Rutta / Benning and 22 year old Jack Thompson who's playing on the left? Does Lilly push Rutta down and he slides next to Ferraro? Or do the Sharks go scorched earth and play him top pair minutes with Walman pushing Ceci down? I don't see Lilly slotting next to a developing rookie in Thomas.
I hope he pushes Rutta down, although Warsofsky seems to love the hard play no puck movement of Rutta and Ferraro. But neither guy can pass a puck, let alone shoot it
Bennings is going to get buried in the AHL so that contract is gonna cost em like nothing. Sharks gave up 2 picks and an asset for lily, that's kinda stinky for a D man that can't play D to save himself.
You are great Steve can you do the same for the habs you will become with a bigger clientele. Maybe TSN gonna offer you jobs. like the song of Queen Don`t Stop Me Now.
At 25, he kinda is who he’s gonna be as a player. Maybe he gets more ice time and looks a little better in San Jose or some trash tier team like the Sabres in a couple years since they need NHL caliber players to fill out a tank roster, but a 5-6 is likely all he’ll ever be on an average roster, and a 7-8 on a team that actually contends for the Cup
This might be your best "non-scoop" of the entire 2025/2026 season. Oh... wait there will be the Nick off-load. Then that will be your best "non-scoop" of the season.... hopefully just after January 1st 2025.
