Defenceman Timothy Liljegren has signed a new contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Liljegren’s contract will last two years at $3 million per year. There has been discussion about the Maple Leafs shopping the Swedish D-man. Whether they still decide to go down that path will Liljegren is up to them. Nonetheless, a new deal has been sealed.
Toronto signs Timothy Liljegren 2x$3M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 30, 2024
New Contract for Timothy Liljegren in Toronto
Liljegren has been in the Maple Leafs organization for quite some time now. Selected 17th by Toronto in the 2017 draft, this upcoming season will be his sixth in the Blue and White. This past year, Liljegren was on pace to have his best offensive season yet. However, the 25-year-old was limited to just 55 games due to a handful of injuries that he suffered. In a full 82-game season, Liljegren was on pace for a career-high 35 points. He also finished with a plus-3, which interestingly is low for Liljegren. Over the last three seasons, the defenceman logged a mighty plus-42 which statistically tells us he is reliable.
Throughout the season, Liljegren shared the ice with several different different D-partners. He’s mainly played alongside T. J. Brodie, Jake McCabe, Mark Giordano and more along the way. Also, John Klingberg, signed in the previous off-season, was put on LTIR early in the season, That gave Liljegren some more space in the lineup and time on the ice. For the most part, he’s held his own as a solid right-shot defenceman on the second pair for the Leafs.
Liljegren’s previous contract was a two-year deal at $1.40M AAV.
Puck-moving D-man will look for more Minutes
With every season that goes by, Liljegren improves in all aspects. Also, every season, he earns more ice time which matches the growth of his abilities. This past season he averaged 19:39 of ice time. After his first season, he earned over a minute more of ice time every next season. He has the tools to quarter-back a second power-play unit. His defensive game has also improved tremendously since he was drafted, given the plus-minus statistics.
