With the Utah Hockey Club losing two key defensemen, they need to stop the bleeding and could look to Timothy Liljegren on the Toronto Maple Leafs for their answers.
The Utah Hockey Club has been a pleasant surprise so far this season, rushing out to a 4-1-1 record and being led by a full team effort with five players recording at least six points already, including captain Clayton Keller’s eight-point start to the season and is tied for 10th in the NHL in points. Even Don Cherry has been taken aback by their hot start, pegging the newly-minted franchise to have a strong season.
But for all the positives, Utah is currently dealing with two serious injuries to key defensemen John Marino and Sean Durzi. Marino is projected to be out for months and Durzi is at least a few weeks away from returning. Elliotte Friedman touched on the injuries on his latest ’32 Thoughts’ podcast:
‘I heard four, five months for Durzi,’ revealed Friedman.
The news wasn’t too great for Marino either according to Friedman:
‘I think their update this week was its still not close,’ said Friedman.
It’s a huge blow to the team as they look to continue to ride this wave of momentum without their two best defensemen. Desperation could start to set in quickly, and if Utah wants to stop the bleeding, they should look north to Toronto for an answer.
Per Elliotte Friedman in his latest ’32 Thoughts’ podcast spoke about the possibility of teams calling to inquire about making a deal while Utah is knocked down a peg.
‘You know what happens at that point in time,’ said Friedman. ‘The vultures start circling ‘Ahhh you need a defenseman, you’re short some guys, what can we separate you from that we value in return for a defenseman?” Friedman said
With Timothy Liljegren currently being shopped around and no place on the current Maple Leafs roster, and already being potentially linked to the Utah, perhaps GM Brad Treliving could be getting a call from GM Bill Armstrong sooner than later.
Liljegren has fallen out of favor with Craig Berube and could find greener pastures in Salt Lake City, something both Liljegren and the Leafs could use. Costing $3M a year, Liljegren has been a decent, but not spectacular player for Toronto and has seen his minutes drop year after year. He has shown improvement but it’s been too long already and he hasn’t turned into the elite playmaking defenseman Toronto envisioned when they drafted him in 2017. Only scoring 65 points in 198 career NHL games, he hasn’t lived up to expectations and has often been a defensive liability though he’s shown improvements recently.
Utah needs a right-handed shooting defenseman given both Marino and Durzi fill that role, and Liljegren could offer a fantastic alternative until they return. The possibility for Liljegren to break out and find chemistry with Utah’s youth movement is big, and given he’s itching to still prove himself; the motivation will be there.
Utah has over $7M in cap space to absorb Liljegren’s contract and could put a package together for Liljegren that involves Utah’s 2nd-round pick, New York’s 2nd-round pick, and possibly persuade Toronto to take on pending UFA Nick Bjugstad’s contract (and Toronto does need a true #2 center).
The Utah Hockey Club is in a tough position, and having such a hot start to the season could be quickly derailed due to the injuries to Marino and Durzi. If they want to keep the train rolling smoothly down the track, they will need to give the Maple Leafs a call to bring aboard a new conductor, and his name is Timothy Liljegren.
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