With a slew of healthy scratches to the season, the writing was on the wall for defenceman Timothy Liljegren and his tenure in Toronto. The Leafs had a logjam on the blue line and coach Craig Berube didn't seem inclined to play him, so a trade was a near-certainty. That trade went down on Wednesday as he was shipped to the San Jose Sharks for defenceman Matt Benning and a pair of draft picks:

Let's break it down.

What San Jose Gets

The Sharks are still firmly at the early portion of the rebuild despite some high recent draft picks, so they need to accumulate as much young talent as they can. At 25 years old, Liljegren fits that bill as he can offer a half-decade's worth of solid play if he stays with the franchise.

From 2021-2024, Liljegren averaged six goals, 22 assists, 101 shots, 121 hits, and 128 blocks per game while averaging under 18 minutes per contest. There was solid peripheral production for such modest ice time, so even though he's going to a lower-scoring team, he's going to a team with Cody Ceci (likely to be traded at the deadline), Jan Rutta, and Jack Thompson as right-handed defencemen. He may not get a huge even strength ice time boost right now, but it may not take long for him to work his way up.

At his best, Liljegren can help a bit at both ends. His issue is he was prone to turnovers because he did a lot of the heavy lifting in the defensive zone for Toronto. More touches lead to more turnovers, and that could be an issue on a bad lottery team like San Jose.

There is also the issue of scoring. San Jose is still without Macklin Celebrini and they are once again near the bottom of the league by even strength goals. Liljegren was a good – not great – producer at even strength in his limited minutes with Toronto, but going from a top-10 EV scoring team to a bottom-10 EV scoring team will hurt his point production unless there is a massive uptick in minutes (look at Jake Walman).

The big key for Liljegren is whether he can earn top PP time. The Sharks have generally had a solid power play over the last couple of seasons and are near the middle of the league by PP goals per minute again this season. San Jose is clearly not married to Walman on the top PP unit as he has been spelled off by Thompson at times, and Luca Cagnoni had a lot of run in the preseason. If Liljegren can move to that top PP role, on top of the solid peripherals, he can be rostered in most fantasy formats. If he can't get that PP role, he's waiver wire fodder in most fantasy formats.

This acquisition is tough for Thompson. The team isn't scratching Ceci and Rutta is likely a lineup regular. Add in Walman and Mario Ferraro, and Thompson is, at best, the sixth defenceman. If the team wants to balance left-shot defencemen with right-handed shots, he may be a healthy scratch, or back in the AHL.

This is a trade that seems to help the Sharks, generally speaking, but it could hurt guys like Walman (PPTOI), Thompson (demoted), and Rutta (EVTOI).

When Jani Hakanpaa is ready to go (he may be already), there is room for him on the right side of Toronto's defence. Until then, Conor Timmins may see a small uptick in usage, but considering Liljegren has barely been used this season as it is, it really doesn't change much for the Leafs or their defencemen. This does give the Leafs a couple picks and some cap flexibility to add more at the Trade Deadline or in the offseason.

Who This Helps

Timothy Liljegren

Who This Hurts

Jake Walman

Jack Thompson

Jan Rutta