Sheldon Keefe heaps praise on Leafs ahead of tonight's game
The former Leafs head coach faces his old team for the first time this evening.
Sheldon Keefe will meet the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, for the first time as an opposing head coach.
Keefe, who was fired by the Leafs after yet another first round playoff loss, signed a new contract with the New Jersey Devils this past offseason and is looking forward to facing off against his former team for the first time this evening.
From Keefe earlier today:
That's just Coach Keefe being a professional... you know that deep down he really wants to cram thing down the Leafs' throats. Puck drop is 7pm ET tonight in New Jersey.
Read below for our earlier Leafs report on defenseman Timothy Liljegren.
In case you missed it last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped their season opener 1-0 to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre in downtown Montreal.
The Leafs were shut-out for the first time in nearly 3 years thanks to a fantastic 47 save performance from Habs goaltender Samuel Montembeault. While all the cracks online have been about the Leafs choking or going 0-82 for the season, truthfully the team had a solid showing. Montembeault was simply outstanding and wasn't willing to give the Leafs an inch.
Noticeably absent from the Leafs' lineup last night was Timothy Liljegren and today there are reports that the Leafs are actively looking to trade the defenseman.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Leafs are looking for a "landing spot" via trade for Liljegren after a weak training camp and failing to crack the opening night roster.
"Sounds like Toronto is working to find a landing spot for Timothy Liljegren," Friedman wrote for Sportsnet earlier this week. "He’s down the depth chart, not a situation anyone is happy with."
Liljegren has slid so far down the team's depth chart that he's now the 7th or even best 8th defenseman. Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jake McCabe, Simon Benoit, Conor Timmins and Jani Hakanpaa all hold down spots above him in the Leafs' defensive rankings.
"Lilly's got to do things quicker. He's got to be a little bit heavier in his battles and move into pucks quicker and simplify the game," head coach Craig Berube said on Friday. "He's obviously battling. He wants to be a guy in the lineup every night, and that's great. But sometimes you kind of put too much on your plate, right?
"Simplify the game a little bit more. If I had to say anything, simplify his game a little bit more. And just do your job as a defenseman, killing plays and being heavy."
As for Liljegren, he's at a bit of a loss for his dip in play.
"I don't know. I just haven't really had that much flow in my game," Liljegren said last week. "I think it's been okay but not my best hockey."
It now appears that he'll get a chance to turn his game around with a new team.
