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Timothy Liljegren

Injury Notes: Gostisbehere, McCann, Liljegren

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This afternoon, Carolina Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour told Michael Russo of The Athletic that the team believes Shayne Gostisbehere’s injury is not serious, and that he remains with the team on their trip west. 

The offensive defenseman has been off to a dynamite start so far, with 7 points in just 5 games. Just two days ago, Gostisbehere left in the Canes’ win over Los Angeles due to a lower-body-injury. 

Despite the good news, Gostisbehere will be absent tonight vs Vegas, as Charles-Alexis Legault is expected to make his NHL debut. The 6’4” defenseman was drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 draft by Carolina, turning pro last season with AHL Chicago, where he was a steady presence in 63 games for the Wolves. 

Elsewhere across the league:

  • The Seattle Kraken announced earlier today that key forward Jared McCann would not play in tonight’s game at Philadelphia, due to a lower-body-injury. It is expected that the 29-year-old will be day-to-day, thankfully not worse as Seattle is currently missing Kaapo Kakko, Frederick Gaudreau, and Ryker Evans due to injury. In McCann’s place, top prospect Berkly Catton has made his NHL debut.
  • Max Miller, San Jose’s beat reporter, noted earlier today that defenseman Timothy Liljegren returned to the ice as a normal participant. The Swede remains on the team’s injured reserve, having been placed last week with an upper-body injury, however, he seems to be ramping up for a return on Thursday as the Sharks travel to take on the Rangers. 

Sharks Place Timothy Liljegren On Injured Reserve

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The Sharks officially placed Timothy Liljegren on injured reserve, a day after the defenseman was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, according to Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. There’s no corresponding recall coming immediately, Pashelka reports.

Liljegren got banged up in Tuesday’s 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Hurricanes, landing awkwardly after a failed board battle with Carolina’s Taylor Hall (video via JD Young of Locked On Sharks). That means he’s been ruled out for San Jose’s next two games and will be eligible to come off IR for their game against the Islanders next Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Swede has played in all three games for the Sharks to start the year after being the subject of trade rumors over the offseason, operating as their top right-shot defender. He’s averaging a career-high 20:14 per game, seeing the second-most time at even strength behind Nick Leddy and forming half of the defense pairing on their top penalty-killing unit with Mario Ferraro. He hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet yet, though. He has a -2 rating with 10 blocks and three hits. The Sharks have been shelled in Liljegren’s 5-on-5 minutes, losing the shot attempt battle 70-33 for a CF% of 32.0. While that looks drastic, the Sharks have posted a horrid 33.5 CF% at even strength through three games, so he hasn’t dipped too far below the team average despite being deployed primarily as a defensive specialist to begin the year.

It’s not surprising to see San Jose not rush to make a corresponding recall. They still have seven defensemen on the active roster after starting the year with eight of them. One of those seven is John Klingberg, who was also ruled day-to-day by head coach Ryan Warsofsky yesterday, but he hasn’t yet been ruled out for tomorrow’s contest against the Mammoth. However, he wasn’t taking line rushes yesterday, indicating he could still sit out as a precaution while veteran righty Vincent Desharnais makes his season debut after being scratched for the Sharks’ first three games.

There’s no indication as of yet that Liljegren’s absence should last much longer than the retroactive seven days required for an IR placement. In the meantime, it’ll be a good opportunity for Desharnais to shake off the rust, as well as for rookie Sam Dickinson to push for more minutes after averaging just 11:56 through his first two NHL appearances.

Injury Notes: Klingberg, Liljegren, Lindholm

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A trio of Swedish defensemen have been banged up, but are not expected to miss much time. First, out of San Jose, Sheng Peng of NBC Sports California updated earlier today that John Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren are out day-to-day, and are questionable for Friday, when the Sharks go to Utah. Both players were hurt last night, as San Jose was drubbed by Carolina, although each played high minutes. Liljegren is considered upper-body, which aligns with when he appeared shaken up after going down hard in an attempt to pin a Hurricane along the boards. 

Peng also added a key note, that fortunately, given that it was listed as lower-body, Klingberg’s ailment is not related to his ongoing hip trouble. For now, the Sharks could turn to Vincent Desharnais to make his season debut, along with the more intriguing young Shakir Mukhamadullin, who posted two assists in his only game this season. 

Elsewhere across the league:

  • Bruins Head Coach Marco Sturm recently told Belle Fraser, Multimedia Producer of the team, that Hampus Lindholm is also day-to-day, but is expected to resume skating tomorrow. The veteran enjoyed a major career resurgence in Boston in 2022-23, but unfortunately has been chasing it since, especially with an injury riddled 2024-25. Thankfully, Lindholm has managed to skate in two games for Boston so far, as he looks to get back on track and hope to help lead the team back to the playoffs come spring. 

Sharks Reportedly Looking To Trade Timothy Liljegren, Henry Thrun

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After adding three veteran defensemen since the start of free agency, the San Jose Sharks have a glut of blue-liners on their roster. With a need to trim the ranks, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period is reporting that the Sharks have made defensemen Timothy Liljegren and Henry Thrun available via trade.

The report is unsurprising given that San Jose is looking to open a role for youngerster Sam Dickinson on the opening night roster. The Sharks drafted Dickinson with the 11th overall selection of the 2024 NHL Draft, and he recently had a career year with the OHL’s London Knights, scoring 29 goals and 91 points in 55 games with a +64 rating.

Assuming that Dickinson will be given every opportunity to earn a spot on the opening night roster, the Sharks will want to remove at least one beforehand. If Dickinson makes the team out of training camp, there’s no reason for San Jose to have nine defensemen on the roster, even with an abundance of salary cap space.

It’s curious that Pagnotta only mentioned Liljegren and Thrun in his initial reporting. The pair of blue liners should have value on the trade market, but only for teams looking to add to their bottom-pairing. If the Sharks are looking to make a trade of substance, Mario Ferraro may be the best candidate.

Last season, Liljegren scored six goals and 17 points in 67 games, while Thrun scored two goals and 12 points in 60. Meanwhile, Ferraro scored five goals and 17 points but averaged more than two minutes higher than his closest counterpart, Liljegren.

Furthermore, given that the Sharks are in a position to balance the handedness of their defensive core for the first time in a while, it would make more sense to trade Ferraro than the other two. That way, Dickinson could be given a spot in the second pairing to begin the 2025-26 campaign, and the team could readily pivot to veteran Nick Leddy should he falter. In the case they keep Ferraro and trade one of Liljegren or Thrun, that means they’d have to play a veteran on his off-hand, put Dickinson on his off-hand, or move a playable option to a depth role.

Sharks Acquire Timothy Liljegren From Maple Leafs

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The San Jose Sharks have acquired defenseman Timothy Liljegren from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Matt Benning, a 2025 third-round and 2026 sixth-round draft pick. Toronto will get the better of the third-round picks that San Jose previously acquired from the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche.

The move ends a tumultuous seven-year run for the 17th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The Maple Leafs were patient with the 25-year-old, waiting for him to realize the potential that made him a first-round pick. Unfortunately for Toronto, that untapped potential never translated to results, as Liljegren could not crack Toronto’s top four on defense.

Liljegren was re-signed to a two-year $6MM contract back in late June, but despite the new contract, Liljegren quickly lost the trust of new head coach Craig Berube and general manager Brad Treliving. Liljegren has only dressed in one regular season game thus far and struggled mightily, as the Maple Leafs were out-chanced 21-2 while he was on the ice for 12 minutes of even-strength hockey.

Coming back the other way is 30-year-old depth defenseman Matt Benning. The Edmonton Alberta native is in the third year of a four-year $5MM contract, meaning that Toronto will realize a cap savings of $1.75MM in the transaction for this season and next. Benning is a useful defenseman who is just two years removed from his best offensive season as a pro (one goal and 23 assists in 77 games). While Benning will serve as valuable depth for Toronto, he is unlikely to see the kind of ice time he was seeing in San Jose and will most likely be Toronto’s eighth defenseman.

Atlantic Notes: Liljegren, Compher, Motte, Pacioretty, Vinik

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It’s no surprise that defenseman Timothy Liljegren’s time with the Toronto Maple Leafs may be coming to an end. The former 17th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft has only suited up in one game for the Maple Leafs up to this point in the regular season and it doesn’t appear that the organization is willing to expand much upon that total.

As an obvious trade candidate, Harman Dayal and James Mirtle of The Athletic (Subscription Required) offered three potential suitors for Liljegren’s services. The pair lists the Utah Hockey Club, San Jose Sharks, and Los Angeles Kings as three teams needing a right-handed shot puck-moving blue liner.

All three make sense for several reasons. Utah is out Sean Durzi and John Marino for much of the 2024-25 regular season due to surgery and could use a short-term stopgap for their top four. The Kings are facing a similar dilemma with the departure of Matt Roy over the offseason and a long-term preseason injury to All-Star Drew Doughty. The Sharks don’t strike as desperate as the other two options but carry three right-shot defensemen past their primes.

Liljegren’s departure from Toronto seems less about “if” and more about “when” at this stage of the game. He’s shown flashes of top-four capabilities throughout his time in Toronto but hasn’t been trusted by multiple coaches to play in important situations.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • Ansar Khan of MLive provided a few updates on a pair of forwards from the Detroit Red Wings. J.T. Compher, who missed yesterday’s game against the New Jersey Devils with an illness, is designated as a game-time decision for tomorrow night’s contest against the Buffalo Sabres. Khan shares that forward Tyler Motte is still considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury but did participate in practice earlier today. Motte suffered the injury after receiving a solid body check from New York Rangers’ rookie defenseman, Vittorio Mancini, on October 17th.
  • Back to Toronto — veteran forward Max Pacioretty missed the team’s game last night due to a lower-body injury. He’s not expected to be out much longer with TSN’s Mark Masters reporting Pacioretty was a full participant in the team’s practice earlier today. Pacioretty already has two goals through his first five games as a Maple Leaf but the team will likely slowplay his recovery due to his multiple Achilles tears a few years ago.
  • In one of the best feel-good stories in recent memories, Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is leaving the organization with quite the parting gift. Alex Silverman of the Sports Business Journal reports Vinik is paying nearly $20MM in bonuses to the 300+ employees for the Lightning organization. It will amount to approximately $50K-$66K for each full-time employee and is reminiscent of former owner Mark Cuban’s bonus payouts to the staff of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

East Notes: Liljegren, Shesterkin, Volokhin, Brandsegg-Nygard

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While there has been some trade speculation surrounding Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that there is no imminent move on the horizon.  Toronto is currently carrying eight blueliners while also having offseason additions Jani Hakanpaa and Dakota Mermis on LTIR so their depth is in decent shape, something Dreger notes Toronto likes.  However, while having strong depth is one thing, having a healthy scratch making $3MM through next season isn’t ideal.  Still just 25, Liljegren has nearly 200 career NHL regular season games under his belt and is coming off a season that saw him collect 23 points in 55 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a night.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some trade interest in him in the coming weeks, especially if a team gets hit with some injuries on the back end.  If not, they may still need to make a move in a few weeks as some of their injured players potentially return.

More from the Atlantic:

  • On the heels of Igor Shesterkin declining an eight-year, $88MM extension offer from the Rangers, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that the goaltender is asking for $12MM per season. Recognizing the team might not go that high, the 28-year-old wants to be the highest-paid player on the team which means he might decline anything below the $11.643MM AAV that Artemi Panarin has on his deal.  Shesterkin has a career 2.42 GAA and a .921 SV% in 214 games at the NHL level and will soon be the highest-paid goalie in league history with the offer he declined already coming in higher than Carey Price’s $10.5MM per season.
  • Canadiens goaltending prospect Yevgeni Volokhin has been loaned to HK Sochi, per an announcement from the KHL club. SKA St. Petersburg acquired his rights earlier this week but will let the 19-year-old get his feet wet at the top Russian level elsewhere for the time being.  Montreal drafted Volokhin in the fifth round in 2023, going 144th overall.  He was one of the top netminders at their junior level last season, posting a 1.57 GAA with a .938 SV% in 31 games with Mamonty Yugry and has similar numbers (1.95 and .931 respectively) in eight appearances at the MHL level this year.
  • The Red Wings wanted to assign prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard to AHL Grand Rapids but the first rounder and his camp insisted on him being assigned back to Sweden, relays Norren’s Robin Lindgren (Twitter link). The 19-year-old spent last season with Mora in the second-tier Allsvenskan level where he had 18 points in 41 games but his rights are now held by SHL Skelleftea.  It’s believed that Brandsegg-Nygard feels that playing at the top level in Sweden will be better for his development than suiting up for the Griffins in the minors.

Maple Leafs Sign Timothy Liljegren To Two-Year Extension

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are continuing to chip away at their pending free agents, signing defenseman Timothy Liljegren to a two-year, $6MM extension, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). The deal will carry an annual average value of $3MM and carry Liljegren through his remaining years of RFA eligibility.

The Maple Leafs drafted Liljegren 17th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, taking him as part of what’s turned into a first-round to remember. Liljegren moved to North American pros immediately following the draft, making his NHL debut in 2019 and earning a daily role by 2021. He recorded 23 points in 61 games as a rookie, though his two years since have been limited by a hernia and high ankle sprain respectively. Liljegren still managed a strong year this season despite missing games, tying his rookie scoring of 23 points in just 55 games. He also played in a much more commanding role, averaging 19:40 in ice time after spending the last two seasons on Toronto’s third pairing.

More ice time helped Liljegren avoid the traffic jam that formed at the bottom of Toronto’s depth chart. The Leafs leaned on a long list of depth defenders in the year’s second half, including Simon Benoit, the reacquired Ilya Lyubushkin, William Lagesson, Conor Timmins, and more. Luckily things should clear up quickly, with both Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson set to enter free agency. But Liljegren will feel the pressure of whoever wins out the role behind him. Now on a deal that will carry him to his UFA years, Liljegren can focus solely on establishing as much of a lineup role as he can.

Extension Talks Quiet Between Maple Leafs, Timothy Liljegren

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The Maple Leafs don’t have much in the way of pending restricted free agents to worry about aside from blue liner Timothy Liljegren. While he averaged a career-high 19:40 per game last season and produced at a respectable 34-point pace, he was one of many Leafs that struggled in postseason play and posted the worst even-strength possession metrics of his young career.

Injuries plugged up his regular season, too, limiting him to 55 appearances. He missed weeks with an ankle injury in the first half of the season and missed a significant chunk of the stretch run with an upper-body injury. It’s becoming an unfortunately common theme for the 2017 first-round pick, who’s yet to hit 70 games in a season.

That makes his future in the organization and, even if he stays, his contract discussions this summer quite complicated. To that end, The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke reports Wednesday that “there hasn’t been much dialogue between the Leafs and Liljegren’s camp” regarding a new deal for the RFA.

Whether that means Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is examining trading his signing rights elsewhere remains to be seen. At the very least, it’s clear that Toronto prefers to reserve its early-offseason cap flexibility for more aggressively upgrading their defense, goaltending and depth scoring during free agency, as well as the increasingly small likelihood of trading superstar winger Mitch Marner elsewhere. Put simply, Liljegren doesn’t seem to be a priority for the Leafs’ front office, likely a telling sign of the role they envision him playing next season and beyond.

No matter what they do with Liljegren, they’re in a bit of a tough spot. His gaffes are clear, and he often seems visibly indecisive or uncomfortable playing the puck in his own zone under pressure – a concern that’s plagued a handful of Toronto defensemen throughout the Auston Matthews era.

But his ability to produce offense took major strides this season in an increased role, and the Leafs have consistently had the better share of possession quality at even strength with Liljegren on the ice. He’s logged a career 54.6 xGF%, including a 55.1% mark this season, although his ability to control shot attempts outright dipped this season down below 50% for the first time since his brief initial NHL showing five years ago.

His deal shouldn’t cost too much or require a lengthy term offering, and his being arbitration-eligible this summer after missing significant time with injuries likely isn’t a major concern either. But it would likely require a $2MM-$3MM cap hit to get across the finish line, a decent chunk of change for a team that will take every inch of available cap space they have this summer to make a deep playoff run.

Atlantic Notes: Liljegren, Toronto’s Coaching Staff, Buchberger, LeClerc

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After being eliminated in the first round, there has been plenty of speculation about the Maple Leafs shaking up their core forwards.  However, a move there almost certainly won’t be the only change this summer.  To that end, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that there is some early chatter that defenseman Timothy Liljegren is coming up in trade talks.  The 25-year-old matched his career high in points this season with 23 despite missing 27 games while also setting new personal bests in blocks (116) and average ice time (19:20) which puts him in good shape as he reaches restricted free agency with arbitration eligibility this summer.  If GM Brad Treliving doesn’t want to pay a raise that will likely push past the $2MM mark or if he’s looking to add more grit on the back end, Liljegren could be an intriguing trade target, one that should draw a lot of attention should Toronto opt to formally put him on the block.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Still with Toronto, the Maple Leafs named Craig Berube as their new head coach yesterday, signing him to a four-year contract. Berube, of course, last worked in St. Louis and it appears that Berube won’t be the only one joining Toronto from the Blues.  James Mirtle of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Berube will be bringing some of the staff from St. Louis with him.  Steve Ott, Mike Weber, David Alexander, and Michael Babcock are the current assistants on Drew Bannister’s staff.  As it is, Berube will be reunited with one of his former assistants as Mike Van Ryn was on his staff in St. Louis before being hired by Toronto last offseason.
  • The Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Laval announced (Twitter link) that assistant coach Kelly Buchberger will not return next season. The 17-year NHL veteran had been an assistant for the Rocket for the past three seasons.  Buchberger has since been named as head coach and GM of the Devon Xtreme of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
  • The Red Wings have invited forward Cy LeClerc to their upcoming development camp, relays Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 21-year-old had a productive sophomore season with the University of New Hampshire, notching 10 goals and 18 assists in 36 games to finish second on the team in scoring.

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