The Toronto Maple Leafs fleeced the San Jose Sharks in the Timothy Liljegren trade. Yes, you read that right.
According to insider Pierre LeBrun, there market for the Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman was “lukewarm.” The term is a euphemism meaning that no one was really interested. Ah, but there was one team looking to pull the trigger now: The San Jose Sharks.
Now, the Sharks have actually been quite savvy under Mike Greer. They’ve dumped a lot of useless contracts, signed key players to deals, and avoided taking on toxic contracts like the defunct Arizona Coyotes did.
But the Sharks missed the boat on this one. They overpaid the Leafs, especially when considering no one really wanted Liljegren. Per LeBrun, the Leafs spent months talking to everyone in the league, seeing who might be interested in taking Liljegren off their hands.
Again, the only team that showed any sort of significant interest was San Jose. LeBrun explained on TSN’s Early Trading that the Sharks had been looking for a right-handed blue liner all summer. The Sharks sort of missed the mark, so they pounced on Liljegren.
suppose the Sharks really wanted Liljegren. Otherwise, why would they overpay?
Of course, the return was underwhelming. Matt Benning is a serviceable NHL defenceman. The two draft picks are essentially magic beans. But what the return for Liljegren signals is that the Leafs didn’t have any other deals on the table. At least, they weren’t deals that could beat the Sharks’ offer. And, judging from the Sharks’ offer, the other deals must have been even more underwhelming.
Matt Benning’s time with the Toronto Maple Leafs to be short-lived
LeBrun further explained his point of view regarding the fallout from the Liljegren trade. In particular, he focused on Matt Benning’s future in Toronto.
