Today I’m going to talk about three Toronto defencemen picked in the 2017 NHL draft, Timothy Liljegren, Fedor Gordeev and Eemeli Rasanen.



TIMOTHY LILJEGREN



We’ll start with Liljegren, Toronto’s first round pick, 17th overall. He’s adjusted quickly to the AHL level and has been on the Toronto Marlies top power-play unit of late. It’s important to note how tough the AHL is for defencemen his age. There are only a handful of players in modern history who have played a full AHL season as an 18-year-old defenceman.



In fact, in the last 25 years, here’s the complete list, thanks to Elite Prospects for help with this data:



Even playing a regular shift in the AHL at his age is an accomplishment, but thriving would be quite unusual.



I’ve watched a lot of Liljegren in the last few years. What I’ve usually seen is a very dynamic player who can skate and handle the puck very well, pushes the play up the...