As a win-now team, the Toronto Maple Leafs have looked to veteran additions this summer to augment their core.
With newcomers Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg on board, the Leafs are an older group, and in a couple of cases, once-promising — and perhaps, still-promising — youngsters have been pushed to the periphery of their blueprint for success. And now, those youngsters face an uphill battle to secure a spot amongst the Buds’ top-12 forwards and top-six defensemen.
Those particular youngsters are winger Nick Robertson and blueliner Timothy Liljegren. Both players have been highly heralded in their early days with the organization, but for different reasons, they’ve fallen down the Leafs’ depth chart and they could both be ex-Leafs before the 2023-24 season is through.
In parts of three NHL seasons, the 21-year-old Robertson has played only 31 NHL games and managed just three goals and seven points. Staying healthy has proven to be a problem for Robertson, who missed most of the 2022-23 campaign with a severe shoulder injury. Prior to that, he’d been sidelined in the 2021-22 season with a fractured fibula, and in 2020-21, he missed time due to a knee injury.
His painful run thus far at the professional level has pushed him down Toronto’s list of reliable wingers, with rookie Matthew Knies and veterans Bertuzzi, Domi and Calle Jarnkroc ahead of him at left wing. Absent major injuries to Knies and Bertuzzi, he’s not going to get that opportunity to make an impact with this coming year’s Leafs.
Similarly, the 24-year-old Liljegren has been stuck in the third pairing on Toronto’s defense for a while now. Last season, in a role that saw him average only 17:54 of ice time per game with a salary cap hit of $1.4M, Liljegren amassed only 12 assists and 18 points.
By comparison, 24-year-old D-man Connor Timmins posted the same number of assists and 14 points while playing just 27 games and averaging only 15:05 of ice time. Timmins is under contract at a cap hit of $1.1M this season, so he’s a better value for the money than Liljegren, who clearly doesn’t have the confidence of Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe behind him.
The Leafs don’t have the patience to allow Robertson and Liljegren to slowly develop any longer. If they can trade one or both of them for more experienced help, the Buds are going to do so. And wouldn’t a trade package that included Robertson and Liljegren make sense to put together for a talent like reigning Norris Trophy-winner Erik Karlsson?
Both Liljegren and Robertson could use a change of address and a fresh start — and neither would leave a massive hole in their absence. There’s always a chance they take a major jump in performance, but the likelihood of such a jump appears less likely with every passing day.
It is accurate to note that every team needs to produce young, cheap talent to augment its high-salaried core, but Toronto has players like that — Knies, Pontus Holmberg, Bobby McMann, Nick Abruzzese and Alex Steeves — and they can’t find places for all of them on the NHL roster.
Decisions must be made regarding the future of the Leafs’ prospects and young players, and some of those decisions will be to move on from certain youngsters.
That’s where the Leafs are at right now with Liljegren and Robertson. If the opportunity to get more experienced by trading away one or both of those players presents itself, Leafs GM Brad Treliving is going to take advantage of it and worry about the future much further down the road.
Toronto has already given up on one-time defenseman-of-the-future Rasmus Sandin, and there’s a chance they’re going to move Robertson and/or Liljegren this season. The demands of the present outweigh the needs of the future, and they could spell the end of the line in Leafs Land for both players.
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