Liljegren making case for defence
Leaf pick’s playoff performance might accelerate NHL timeline
Timothy Liljegren hasn’t won a big championship. The Maple Leafs prospect got really close, though, patrolling the blue line with Team Sweden at the world junior championship in Buffalo over the winter, losing the gold-medal game to Canada in a squeaker. He isn’t over it. “It still bugs me a little bit,” said Liljegren. “I think we were the better team in the final game. It was great experience. I want revenge.”
If he’s going to right a wrong, then it will be as a Toronto Marlie.
The Marlies will host the first two games of the Calder Cup final — Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m. at Ricoh Coliseum against the Texas Stars — in pursuit of this city’s first professional hockey championship since the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967.
“We’ve got a chance to win the whole thing now,” said Liljegren. “It’s really fun. I haven’t really won anything in my life. I’m looking forward to it. It’s a great experience to be in this playoff run.”
Of all the prospects who have helped their chances of making the Leafs during the Marlies’ long run through the AHL playoffs, Liljegren stands out.
The Leafs’ top pick from last year’s draft — a coveted righthanded shooter on defence — has raised his game while playing a key part in the club’s success.
“He has just continued to make strides here,” Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe said of Liljegren. “I don’t think his game right now is anywhere near where it’s going to be when he’s ready to be an NHL player. He’s finding his way.
“What’s been nice is, he’s added defensive elements: the way he skates and his lateral mobility, the way he can anticipate plays. All those things we want him to do defensively — take away time and space, kill the rush early, make contact, all those types of things — he’s starting to do that really well.
“He was doing it early in the season. It’s a lot harder now, and the players he’s playing against are better. We’re playing better teams. Those are all positive signs.”
Keefe said Liljegren was at his best clearing the zone in Game 4 of the Eastern final against Lehigh Valley, the win that sent the Marlies to the Cup final.
“He was making plays under pressure. The longer we play, the better it is for a guy like him,” said Keefe. “It’s extra experience playing at this level.”
Liljegren, at 19 the youngest Marlie, plays mostly with Travis Dermott, who returned from the Leafs after they exited the NHL playoffs. They were paired at rookie camp and had played together until Dermott was called up.
“I think we’ve got great chemistry right away,” said Liljegren. “He’s a great guy, easy to talk to out there. He has some NHL experience, so he’s been giving me some tips to help me be a better hockey player.”
Liljegren shoots right-handed and Dermott left-handed, so the mix is natural — ideal in the eyes of most coaching staffs — but there is more to their chem-
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istry than that.
“He’s a great puck mover and good skater, so that makes it real easy for me,” Dermott said of Liljegren. “He’s really fun to play with. It’s easy to make great plays when you have a skilled player like that beside you. He’s an exciting player to watch, and going forward he’s going to have a really exciting career.”
Dermott was drafted 34th in 2015 and took 21⁄ seasons to reach the NHL, where he fit like a glove. Liljegren was taken17th last June and could be on a similar timeline, especially given his 2016-17 season was a bit of a washout because of a bout of mononucleosis. Dermott sees similarities. “Coming over (from Sweden, he) was not the biggest guy. Coming from the big ice surfaces, it took him a little bit — like it took me — to get used to the bigger, faster players. Guys getting to the net you’re going to have to stop, instead of it being more skill. It’s a lot more physical contact. He’s taken it in stride. You watch him now, he’s got a little bit of an edge to him and he can keep the big guys away.”
Seeing them together in the blue and white of the Marlies makes it easy to envision the two in Leafs sweaters.
“That would be awesome, too, to play with Travis up in the NHL,” said Liljegren.
Said Keefe: “Good chemistry with two young guys, and perhaps we can see down the line.”