Leafs defenseman unlikely to be in the playoff lineup

The Ryan O'Reilly blockbuster trade overshadowed what the Toronto Maple Leafs might've intended on doing ahead of the trade deadline, which was adding enough depth to their back end in case of injury or one of their younger defenseman struggled.

At the time, the Leafs had Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren playing healthy minutes, but by the end of it all, they decided to make a substantial move to acquire Jake McCabe from Chicago and sent Sandin to Washington, bringing back another depth defenseman in Erik Gustafsson. They then brought in some added depth in the form of Luke Schenn. Now with 9 able bodied defenseman at his disposal, Sheldon Keefe has rotated his players in and out of the lineup, including what was once their anchor in Morgan Rielly.

Playing Tampa Bay for the second consecutive playoffs is going to be as tough as ever even with their current tribulations. Playoff experience is valuable and the Bolts have it in spades. With that in mind, it seems like Liljegren is playing his way out of the top-6 and into the press box with his play over the last couple of weeks. He was scratched for Wayne Simmonds, allowing the Leafs to return to the 12/6 formation last night against Nashville.

The former first rounder and soon-to-be 24-year-old has averaged a career-high in average ice-time at 18:12. He has also tied his career-high in goals with 5 and is 6 points back from his 23 points that he hit last year. Before the trade deadline, he was averaging 18:48 TOI on 25 shifts per game, while posting a +26 rating. Since then his ice time has dropped to an average of 15:18, 20 shifts per game, and is a minus-4. He has topped 20 minutes only once, 19+ minutes one other time, and nothing more than 16:14 after that. That is substantial because before his most recent 10-game stretch, he was averaging 19:30 TOI a game and topped 20+ minutes in 8 of those games. His last two games, however, Liljegren was limited to just 11:39 and 10:52 of ice time.


Morgan Rielly, T.J. Brodie, Mark Giordano, Jake McCabe are going to eat a lot of minutes and are going to be tasked to lead the backend. Justin Holl always seems to squeak his way into the top-4 and one has to assume that Luke Schenn is going to be an important piece once the post-season arrives. He was brought in specifically for his playoff experience, defensive acumen, and physical nature that helped him win multiple Stanley Cups.

It should not be seen as a slight for Liljegren that he has just been usurped by the many moves that Kyle Dubas orchestrated in an attempt to get past the first round. He will be an important piece on the backend for years to come and it can be easily understood, as TLN's Nick Richard pointed out last night, that: 1) he has had a great season and has taken a massive step forward but also 2) he is playing his way out of the playing lineup in the last few weeks due to the surrounding competition and his play.

Having so many defensemen is a good thing and whenever tasked to play big minutes, Liljegren will be up to the task since he has shown he is able and capable. For now, however, he's not likely to be in the lineup for Game 1 against Tampa.