The Maple Leafs Have Reached an Agreement on a contract worth $97.6 Million with….

Yesterday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs triumphed 3-2 over the Montreal Canadiens despite Mitch Marner’s absence. After their cruel and humiliating loss at the NHL trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs were playing their first game.

After the deadline, Brad Treliving made remarks that appeared as genuine as those of a politician. He essentially said nothing new, except that the guy who left him with Auston Matthews and $20 million to spend was holding him back. Yes, it’s the fault of the guys that are previously played here, but that can be said of any team. Not only does the Leafs general manager have one of the weakest blue lines in the league, but he also took a chance on wasting a year of Auston Matthew’s prime with a rookie goalie and a washout like Samsonov.

It was just depressing when Treliving began discussing making sure they advance to the playoffs. Does he believe we are fools? Many websites providing this kind of information have stated that this club is guaranteed to make the playoffs, thus it appears a touch condescending, as if he believes we are illiterate, when he speaks of the possibility of making the playoffs. They only have a terribly difficult path through the playoffs and no chance at winning the division due of his complete failure to strengthen the squad last summer. When the Las Vegas Golden Knights found a clever method to add not one, not two, but three outstanding players to their lineup, all justifications about advantages, and prospective consumers, draft picks, and the salary cap rang hollow. The Canadiens have absolutely no chance of making the playoffs; the Leafs will definitely make it. This was a drama-free game, as the Leafs knew going into it that they would be opening on the road in opposition to either Florida or Boston.

Timothy Liljegren’s involvement in this game was one intriguing aspect. Once the Leafs acquired Joel Edmundson, a lot of people expected he would be the odd man out. I’m not sure if this is because these people are nuts or if they just don’t think highly of Sheldon Keefe.

Liljegren is the last player the Leafs should bench because they lack right-handed defensemen and nearly no puck-movers. Simon Benoit was seated last night, which makes sense given that the Leafs lack sufficient back-end mobility even with two of the three players—Benoit, Lyubushkin, and Edmundson—playing. It will not work well to play all three of them simultaneously.

I’m assuming Keefe had fun playing because Liljegren led the Leafs in 5v5 ice time. Although the figures seem terrible, I didn’t think he was that horrible. This is probably due to the fact that he plays with Joel Edmundson, who is a terrible player overall, slow, and unable to pass.

It is a given that the opposition side would possess the puck more when Edmundson is iced, and even Cale Makar would struggle to produce strong results when iced. Since Liljegren is not Makar, I’m not sure what the Leafs are hoping for in this situation.

Toronto might additionally attempt Reilly and Liljegren, who had the puck for the majority of their three-minute play last night. It’s obviously a small sample size, but pairing your two top defensemen together is always a good idea. Montreal dominated whenever Edmundson or Lyubushkin was on the rink. The Habs recorded 34 shot attempts overall while one of those two was in action, compared to 22 for the Leafs. Acclimate yourself to the fact that the opposing team will have the puck whenever they want to when you play these types of regressive players.