The Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2017, and Michael Bunting may win it this season.
But even if Michael Bunting is the rookie of the year, he isn’t the Toronto Maple Leafs most important rookie.
That distinction belongs to Timothy Liljegren.
Timothy Liljegren, someone who most people seemed to assume was going to be a healthy scratch for the playoffs may turn out to be the Leafs secret weapon.
You see, Morgan Rielly is the Leafs “number-one” and Muzzin, Brodie and Giordano are all still borderline star players, even if they’ve all declined from their peaks, but it is Timothy Liljegren who might actually be their best defenseman.