Maple Leafs trade Timothy Liljegren to the Sharks

The Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks made a trade on Wednesday according to TSN, as defenseman Timothy Liljegren of Kristianstad, Sweden was dealt from the Maple Leafs to the Sharks for defenseman Matt Benning of Edmonton, Alberta, a third round pick in the 2025 National Hockey League Draft and a sixth round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Timothy Liljegren

Liljegren played the last six seasons for the Maple Leafs since the 2019-20 NHL regular season. Originally Toronto’s first round pick, 17th overall, in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Liljegren only played one game for the Maple Leafs in 2024-25, and had two penalty minutes, two blocked shots and one giveaway in a 6-2 Maple Leafs win over the Los Angeles Kings on October 16. In 25 shifts, Liljegren had 13 minutes and 55 seconds of ice time.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube had interesting comments about Liljegren. He believed the Swedish blueliner was outplayed by other Toronto defensemen during training camp.

Last season, Liljegren had three goals and 20 assists for 23 points in 55 games. He was a +3 with 16 penalty minutes, and had seven power-play points, one game-winning goal, one shorthanded point, 62 shots on goal, 116 blocked shots, 92 hits, 10 takeaways, and 40 giveaways.

The game-winning goal, the first of his NHL career, came in a 6-2 Maple Leafs win over the Philadelphia Flyers on March 14, 2024. Liljegren scored from Tyler Bertuzzi of Sudbury, Ontario and goalie Ilya Samsonov of Magnitogorsk, Russia with four minutes and 21 seconds left in the first period to give Toronto a 3-0 lead.

Matt Benning

Benning is joining his fourth NHL franchise. He previously played four seasons with the Edmonton Oilers from 2016 to 2020, two seasons with the Nashville Predators from 2020 to 2022, and the last three seasons with the San Jose Sharks since the 2022-23 season.

In seven games with the Sharks in 2024-25, Benning is a -5 with four penalty minutes, seven shots on goal, 10 blocked shots, nine hits, one takeaway, and four giveaways. In 2023-24 with the Sharks, Benning had a lower body injury had only played 14 games. He had two assists for two points, was a -5 with 14 penalty minutes, 13 shots on goal, 29 blocked shots, 19 hits, five takeaways, and nine giveaways.