Early Trading: Did limited trade interest in Liljegren force Leafs hand?

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Gino Reda to weigh in on the recent deals that sent defencemen Timothy Liljegren to the Sharks and Olli Maatta to the Utah Hockey Club, how Pierre-Luc Dubois has fit in with the Capitals and the Kings' belief that goaltender Darcy Kuemper could have a bounce back season.

Behind the Maatta/Liljegren trades this week

Gino Reda: Back-to-back trades of D-men earlier this week. Timothy Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks, Olli Maatta to Utah Hockey Club. To talk about it, here is Insider Pierre LeBrun.

Pierre, it was clear that Timothy Liljegren was not part of the Leafs’ long-term plans, so he had to go. The problem was, they had a hard time finding someone willing to take on the Leafs’ former D-man. So, to the Sharks for a third- and sixth-round pick and D-man Matt Benning. As it turns out Pierre, not only was that the best offer – it was really the only offer?

LeBrun: Yeah I know a lot of people who look at this deal and say, ‘really that’s it?’ And the reality is from talking to people around the league, the Leafs spoke to almost every team in the NHL throughout the off-season trying to find a spot for Timothy Liljegren.

This isn’t something that developed at training camp or earlier this year. This was something they’ve been working on for a while, and it played into why they signed him to the two-year extension in the summer instead of going to arbitration and maybe risking a $4 million award for Liljegren. The Leafs thought it would be more wise to sign him to that two-year deal for less money, and also structured in a way where they paid him a $2.4 million signing bonus July 1, Gino. Which again, the Leafs thought would help moving him in season here, which has happened.

But even in season, this was a pretty lukewarm market, unfortunately, for Timothy Liljegren. There just wasn’t a lot of interest. San Jose was truly the only team that was ready to act now. A couple of teams were talking about him internally, but the Sharks really the only team ready to make that deal now.

And I think timing wise for Toronto, Hakanpaa is getting closer, so they have to sort of act here. I know Liljegren, from talking to his agent, he’s happy to get a new opportunity. He needed a fresh start. He’ll get a job in San Jose on the rebuilding Sharks, that’s for sure. So, I think everyone is happy with this deal.

But at the end of the day, one of the things to remember too, the Leafs still have roster issues here. I think they would look to flip Matt Benning, possibly this season at some point, but if they can’t, they see him as a depth piece.

So, at the end of the day, the Sharks they’re rebuilding. Timothy Liljegren at 25, perfect age for San Jose and the Sharks were going to look for a right-handed D. Actually, it was on their to-do list for the summer was to add another piece to their right side, so they feel they got that work done ahead of time here.

Reda: How did Olli Maatta to Utah work out?

LeBrun: Yeah, so it’s interesting because I’m sure the Leafs would’ve loved Utah to make an offer on Timothy Liljegren when Utah lost Sean Durzi, and, of course, John Marino before that. But we talked about this last week Gino. Liljegren was not a player of interest in reality to Utah because he had another year on that deal. Utah was really looking for a pending UFA.

Like I said last week, a prime target I think was Provorov in Columbus, but the Blue Jackets are not ready to go down that route yet. The Blue Jackets are off to a surprising start, they’re not ready to start selling off parts. So, in the end, Utah settles for Maatta, who is a pending UFA and it’s really just giving them some important minutes here and to bridge the gap in particular to when Marino will back.

Marino is expected back in early February for Utah and Durzi in early April. So, Utah didn’t want to gum the works in terms of their payroll and cap situation by adding another D that is under contract past this season. Hence the desire to get a pending UFA in Olli Maatta. So, we’ll see how that fits for Utah.

Early returns on Dubois-Kuemper trade

Reda: It’s always interesting to see how these deals unfold from behind the scenes like that, but also interesting to look back and evaluate how teams did on deals in the past.

Back in June, the Caps took a big risk on bringing in Pierre-Luc Dubois and the seven years, $8 million a season that came with him. How are they feeling about the early returns on this deal Pierre?

LeBrun: They feel pretty darn good about it. In hearing back from both head coach Spencer Carbery and president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan, they were both saying how Pierre-Luc Dubois has been a terrific fit early on here for their team.

The offensive numbers aren’t there yet. They feel he’s been a bit unlucky there, but as Carbery said, he has Dubois going head to head with the other team’s top forward line every night and he’s loved his matchup minutes and his defensive work in helping shut down the other team’s top offensive players. They feel the offence will come but it was also noted by Carbery how Dubois has fit in off the ice. His attitude, how he has been welcomed by teammates.

So, listen. Early, early returns for sure, three weeks in, but the Caps are really happy with what they’re seeing from Pierre-Luc Dubois so far.

On the flip side, I wrote a piece in The Athletic this week on Darcy Kuemper. The Kings feel like all the ingredients are there for Darcy Kuemper to have a bounce-back year after Kuemper lost the starting job to Charlie Lindgren in Washington last year.

Kuemper was an L.A. King back in 2017. They know this guy and I know from speaking to Kuemper earlier this month Gino, he was thrilled when he found out that it was L.A. where he got traded to this summer. He really enjoyed his experience there seven years ago.

So, we’ve seen it with Cam Talbot last year, whose numbers improved greatly going from Ottawa to LA. The Kings are a good place to make goalies feel good again numbers wise with the way they play with structure in front of their goaltending. This is an opportunity for Kuemper, who was hurt for a couple weeks. Now he’s back, he’s won back to back starts to get his career back on track.

So, who knows? Dubois keeps playing the way he is for Washington, and Kuemper has a bounce-back year for L.A., it could be one of those win-win trades Gino. We shall see.

Reda: You know what, it’s always nice to see it work out for both teams involved in a deal. That is Early Trading talk with Pierre LeBrun. Chris Johnston, Darren Dreger and Pierre are back for the full version of Insider Trading later on SportsCentre.