Extension talks quiet between Maple Leafs, Timothy Liljegren

The Maple Leafs don’t have much in the way of pending restricted free agents to worry about aside from blueliner 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 who 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 its 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 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 percent mark this season, although his ability to control shot attempts outright dipped this season down below 50 percent 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 $2M-$3M 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 it has this summer to make a deep playoff run.