Toronto Maple Leafs re-sign defenseman Timothy Liljegren to two-year contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenseman Timothy Liljegren to a two-year contract extension worth $3 million per season, the club announced Sunday afternoon.

The Athletic‘s Jonas Siegel was the first to report the news of Liljegren’s new contract with the Maple Leafs on Sunday, shortly before the 5:00 p.m. ET deadline for teams to issue qualifying offers to their pending RFAs.

Liljegren, 25, appeared in 55 games with the Maple Leafs during the 2023-24 regular season, collecting three goals and 23 points while averaging a career-high 19:39 of ice time per night.

Liljegren’s name has been floated in numerous trade rumors and other reports in recent weeks, many of which have suggested that the Maple Leafs are ready to move on from the 25-year-old Swede.

Despite this, Liljegren is now under contract with the Maple Leafs through the end of the 2025-26 season, at which point he’ll be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.

Before signing him on Sunday, the Leafs tendered Liljegren a qualifying offer to retain his exclusive RFA signing rights. They also did so for forwards Nick Robertson, Connor Dewar, and Alex Steeves; Noah Gregor was the lone pending RFA not to receive a qualifying offer from the club.

Under previous general manager Kyle Dubas, the Maple Leafs originally selected Liljegren in the first round (No. 17 overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft. After helping the AHL’s Toronto Marlies win the Calder Cup in 2018, the 6’1″ right-handed defender made his NHL debut with the club in the 2019-20 season.

Through 196 career NHL games over parts of five seasons with the Maple Leafs, Liljegren has collected 14 goals and 65 points while averaging 17:29 of ice time per night. The Kristianstad, Sweden product has added one assist in 13 playoff contests with Toronto.