Sportsnet is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren left Saturday night’s game against the Nashville Predators with an apparent upper-body injury.
The injury appeared to happen when Yakov Trenin of the Predators finished his check on Liljegren after he had cleared the puck from behind the Leafs' goal line. Liljegren skated to the bench in obvious discomfort where he appeared to talk to the trainer about his ailment.
The injury was initially reported as a lower-body injury before it was corrected later in the evening. At the moment, it isn’t clear how long the 24-year-old will be out of action, leaving it as a day-to-day situation for the time being. The Leafs can hardly afford to lose another defender as they are already without Jake McCabe and Conor Timmins who are both sidelined due to injury.
Liljegren has just one assist in eight games to start the season and has struggled early in the year with an elevated role due to the injuries in the Leafs' defensive core. The native of Kristianstad, Sweden has seen increased ice time to start the year, playing an average of over 20 minutes a night and has also been forced to take substantially more defensive zone starts than he has at any point in his career. These variables have led to some of Liljegren’s struggles thus far.
While Liljegren will likely be re-evaluated in the coming days, the Maple Leafs will have to consider some call-ups before their next contest on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings as nearly half of their defensive core is sidelined due to injury. The Maple Leafs are fortunate to have the financial resources to keep NHL-caliber players in the AHL, however, they have already dipped into those resources with all the early season injuries and will have to further tap into them if Liljegren is on the shelf any length of time.
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