Maple Leafs trade Timothy Liljegren to Sharks as Jani Hakanpaa's debut looms
Toronto receives defenceman Benning, conditional third-rounder in 2025, sixth-rounder in 2026
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Timothy Liljegren’s waiting game is over.
After weeks of speculation, the Maple Leafs traded the 25-year-old defenceman on Wednesday night.
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Maple Leafs trade Timothy Liljegren to Sharks as Jani Hakanpaa's debut looms Back to video
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The Leafs sent Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks, getting defenceman Matt Benning, a conditional third-round pick in 2025 and San Jose’s sixth-round pick in 2026 in return.
While Liljegren could have his best NHL days ahead of him, something the Sharks are banking on, it’s a good package for the Leafs considering Liljegren never got into coach Craig Berube’s good books.
The third-round pick that the Leafs are getting next year is to be determined. The Sharks have third-round picks that originally belonged to Edmonton and Colorado; the Leafs will receive what turns out to be the earlier selection based on where the Oilers and Avalanche finish in the standings.
A few hours after the trade was completed, Liljegren posted a message on Instagram, in which he included several photos of his time with the organization.
“Thank you Toronto for making my dream of playing in the NHL true,” Liljegren said. “I’ll always hold Toronto close to my heart and loved every minute of my 7 years in the organization! Have met amazing people and have made friends that’ll last a lifetime. With that said, I’m excited to join the Sharks organization.”
The trade clears the way financially for the Leafs to activate defenceman Jani Hakanpaa from long-term injured reserve. Hakanpaa, nearly fully recovered from a knee injury, hasn’t played since March 16 with the Dallas Stars. He’s eligible to return on Saturday in St. Louis against the Blues.
Liljegren’s salary cap hit is $3 million US this season and next after he signed a two-year pact during the summer. Hakanpaa is at $1.47 million, while Benning comes in at $1.25 million this season and in 2025-26.
It’s a shrewd bit of cap management on the part of Leafs general manager Brad Treliving and assistant GM Brandon Pridham.
Benning, a 30-year-old native of Edmonton who shoots right, is a veteran of 464 NHL games with San Jose, Nashville and Edmonton and will provide depth on the blue line.
We asked Liljegren after practice on Wednesday at the Ford Performance Centre whether he was giving much thought to his hockey future with Hakanpaa’s Leafs debut not far off.
“No, I’m just taking it day by day,” Liljegren said. “Coming in and trying to be positive. Work hard, whatever happens will happen. My focus is here and to get back in the lineup.
“It would be more fun playing, but that’s not the situation. I try to be ready if and when the opportunity comes. It’s a battle mentally to stay positive.”
Liljegren also said he didn’t think he had yet to reach his full potential.
That opportunity will come, we know now, with the Sharks. The Leafs and Sharks don’t meet until March 3 in Toronto.
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Liljegren, picked 17th overall by the Leafs in 2017, marks the second defenceman taken in the first round in recent years who didn’t pan out, certainly not to the degree that the Leafs expected. Rasmus Sandin, chosen 29th by Toronto in 2018, was traded to the Washington Capitals in 2023.
Not long after Liljegren — who played in just one game this season on Oct. 16 against Los Angeles — departed the Leafs dressing room for what would be the last time, Hakanpaa spoke of anticipating his first game with the Leafs.
“You always have the itch you want to play, but when you’re watching from the stands for a lot of the games, it keeps growing and growing,” Hakanpaa said. “(The itch) is close to maxing out, I would say, which is a good thing. That’s the way you want it to be.”
As long as there are no further injuries to Leafs defencemen, the probable scratch would be Conor Timmins.
The top four is set with Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson forming one pair and Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev another. That look will continue on Thursday, when the Seattle Kraken visits the Leafs.
Simon Benoit has provided the kind of play one would expect out of a third-pairing defenceman — relatively steady and nothing too flashy, while providing a physical element — though he has to be better at not taking penalties.
Forward Connor Dewar (shoulder) also is eligible to be activated from LTIR before Saturday and has not looked out of place in practice.
Hakanpaa doesn’t anticipate a big learning curve once he is uniform. A veteran of 288 NHL games with Dallas, Carolina and Anaheim, the 6-foot-7 Finn was signed by the Leafs in free agency for several reasons, including his effectiveness on the penalty kill.
“I’m in all the meetings, I’m on the ice,” Hakanpaa said. “If there’s something that’s unclear to me, I’ll ask and talk to the coaches.
“We’ve been making sure that I’m on top of things. There’s a lot of similarities with stuff that we’ve done in the past (with other teams).
“There’s going to be an adjustment, but I think I’m in a pretty good place that way.”
Hakanpaa has done just about all he can to be ready once he is cleared.
“It’s getting really close,” Hakanpaa said with a smile. “The excitement’s been building for a long time now.”
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