Felicia Keller
Timothy Liljegren couldn’t become the defenseman that the Toronto Maple Leafs wanted, but maybe he can become the defenseman that the San Jose Sharks want.
“We’re trying,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky said, “to transition his game as being more of a 200-foot, puck-moving, maybe second power play defenseman.”
That’s maybe not what Liljegren was supposed to be…and that’s okay.
So how’s Liljegren’s game coming along? And how’s he feel about coming back to Toronto?
The Sharks take on the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night.
“The Angelholm, Sweden native was the consensus top defenceman in the draft early in the 2016-17 campaign,” Mike Johnston of Sportsnet wrote in 2017, “however his stock fell after missing the first two months of the season as he dealt with a case of mononucleosis.”
Liljegren dropped to No. 17, behind blueliners Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, Cal Foote, Erik Brannstrom, and Juuso Valimaki.
There was hope that Liljegren, trumpeted by the hype surrounding any Toronto first-round selection, would become the steal of the Draft.
“Coming up through Sweden he was the guy. He was the guy running the power play. He was the guy late in the game. He was the guy creating offense,” Warsofsky recalled.
Seven years, however, after a long and arduous development process, the Leafs turned the page on Liljegren, sending him to the San Jose Sharks in late October for Matt Benning, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
His best season was last year, with three goals and 23 points in just 55 games. However, Liljegren started 2024-25 out of new head coach Craig Berube’s rotation, a healthy scratch in nine of Toronto’s first 10 games.
“Obviously, it wasn’t fun not playing in Toronto,” Liljegren said in December. “I got here [to San Jose] and the coaches have been good with me and giving me opportunities. Even though you make mistakes sometimes, they still put you out there, and I think that goes a long way for a player like me to kind of have that trust and, it’s okay to make mistakes sometimes, just learn from it and move on.”
He said the opposite felt true in Toronto, where a mistake could result in him getting benched.
And with the Leafs, being in such a high-profile market meant there were more media eyes on everything when compared to the San Jose Sharks, even on the Toronto Marlies of the AHL, where Liljegren won the Calder Cup in 2018 alongside fellow Sharks teammate Carl Grundstrom.
“When me and Grundy played with Marlies, we had a very good team with good players, and there was a lot of excitement around the team,” Liljegren said. “We also ended up winning that year too, so especially after Leafs lost their playoffs, we got even more reporters.”
Both Grundstrom and Liljegren have said that there were more reporters for the AHL’s Marlies than the NHL’s Sharks.
Coming back on Sunday to practice at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the home of the Marlies, Liljegren chose to focus on the positive: “I have good memories. Obviously, won the Calder Cup here, so that obviously brings back good memories. But I enjoyed my time here and love the city and felt a little bit weird coming here yesterday, driving through the city.”
He also admitted, of his time in Toronto: “I could have played better.”
So now the hype has passed, how’s Liljegren trying to reshape his game?
“I talked to Warso and just tried to dial it in on defense and take offense when it comes but be consistent on defense, battle hard,” Liljegren said in February, admitting, “My game, it’s been a little bit inconsistent.”
This includes physical board work, like boxing out and pinning opponents, using his 6-foot-1, 201-pound build to the greatest advantage.
Liljegren does appear to be winning more puck battles, leading Sharks defensemen with a 66 percent win rate, per Stathletes. The last two seasons, he’s been at 55 percent.
Warsofsky thinks that Liljegren is making better reads, defending the rush and elsewhere.
“When he doesn’t have the puck, [he’s getting better at] scanning the ice and how to defend.”
Liljegren is on board with how his game is being re-fashioned.
“We’ve made it, as an organization, very clear what we expect, our expectations,” Warsofsky said. “He sees the things that we’ve talked about. He knows it. It’s pretty loud and clear.”
“I want to be a good two-way defenseman, not just someone you want to have produce points and stuff like that,” Liljegren said. “I want to be someone you trust in the D-zone too, start D-zone, faceoffs and stuff like that, too.”
Per Natural Stat Trick, Liljegren is being tested with the toughest 5-on-5 deployment of his career, an Offensive Zone Start % of just 40 percent. Last year, he had a 61.85 OZ Start %, which surely helped his productivity.
“He has picked up the defensive side of the game really well since his American League days,” Warsofsky said. “And after the break, he’s coming off…some of his better hockey we’ve seen with us.”
Liljegren is still far from being a rock-solid defensive defenseman, but Warsofsky has patience.
“What you notice [for a defenseman] is it takes a lot of time. Gustav Forsling was in Charlotte, it took him two, three organizations. It took him a lot of time,” Warsofsky said.
28-year-old Forsling, also Swedish, is now considered one of the best defensemen in the world. Warsofsky had the Florida Panthers star with the Charlotte Checkers in 2019-20, after the Carolina Hurricanes had acquired Forsling from the Chicago Blackhawks.
“If you had watched him back when he was in Charlotte with us, he wasn’t very good here for the first 15, 20 games, and then it clicked,” Warsofsky recalled of Forsling, who the Panthers would claim off waivers in 2021. “And I think Lily’s got – not saying he’s Gustav Forsling, but when you change who you are as a player…It takes time. They’ve never done it in their lives.”
Of course, Liljegren is still a talented puck-mover, which has served the Sharks well.
“Every team in the National Hockey League is looking for puck-moving defensemen. For me, it’s a real big key to going and playing in offense is, can you get out of your own end? We see it when we break out pucks and we get out of our own end, we go play offense, and we put teams on their heels,” Warsofsky said.
Liljegren has been an asset in this regard, per Stathletes.
He’s first or second to Jake Walman in a number of team passing categories per 60, including first in Successful Passes and Stretch Passes, and second in Passes Leading to Shots.
Nico Sturm said the San Jose Sharks have been able to break out more pucks this season because new additions Walman and Liljegren have been engaged and dangerous moving the puck.
“It’s been nice for forwards not having to chase down every puck, and have guys in the back end that want to make stuff happen and want to have pucks on their sticks,” Sturm said.
But even in this regard, Liljegren can be better too, his execution inconsistent.
“I’ve had good stretches where I’ve been moving the puck well and then I’ve had some games where the puck hasn’t really been my friend,” he admitted.
“He’s getting better at scanning the ice and seeing plays, where to be made as a puck-moving defenseman,” Warsofsky said.
The 25-year-old is signed for another season with the San Jose Sharks at $3 million AAV. Right now, he has five goals and 10 points in 46 games in teal, averaging 18:05 a night.
Is he part of the rebuilding Sharks’ core? Or just a bridge player?
“We believe his game can continue to grow,” Warsofsky said. “He’s still a younger guy, as far as it goes game-wise…it takes time for these guys to learn the position.”