BUFFALO – Illness and injuries led to an adventurous 2016-17 season for Timothy Liljegren. His problems began last September when he was diagnosed with mononucleosis forcing the blue liner to miss two months of action.

Then a February injury sidelined the 18-year-old again.  The missed time saw Liljegren’s draft stock plummet. In its October rankings, ISS Hockey had the Swede ranked second overall behind only Nolan Patrick. However, in the 2017 ISS Hockey Draft Guide, Liljegren was ranked eighth overall for this month’s NHL Draft, which takes place in Chicago June 23-24 – he’s no longer the top defenceman ranked for the draft either, losing out to Finnish prospect Miro Heiskanen.

“It was a pretty tough season,” Liljegren admitted. “Just tried to go through it and looking forward to next season. I think I was up and down. Some games I played good and some I played bad. I played with five different teams so it was pretty hard to find my game.”

Liljegren started the season with Rogle, but eventually moved to Timra in an effort to see more ice time.

“I think it was good for me to grow as a person,” he said. “Obviously you want to play on the same team and on the same level, it was frustrating sometimes, yeah. I didn’t really think I got the ice time I needed to improve so I played with the J-20 in Rogle then I moved to Timra in Allsvenskan - that was part of the reason.”

It was a surprise to some when Liljegren was left off Sweden’s IIHF World Junior team in December in favour of younger players such as a 16-year-old Rasmus Dahlin, but given his battle with mono, it was something Liljegren saw coming.

“I was kind of prepared after getting mono, I didn’t really know how long I was going to be sick,” he said. “I came back sooner than I thought so that gave me a little bit of hope again, but I wasn’t too disappointed actually.

“I think I came back too early from the mono too so didn’t really feel like myself for about a month.”

Liljegren does have prior international experience under his belt having played at the 2015 Under-17 tournament where he scored three goals and five points in six games helping Sweden win a bronze medal.

Last season he participated at the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship winning a silver medal and took part in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

The six-foot, 190-pounder is a smooth skating mobile blue liner who has excellent offensive instincts. His shot from the point makes him a threat on the power play. Liljegren’s skating enables him to lead end-to-end rushes. He’s not an overly physical rearguard, but has good positioning and uses his stick well to defend.

“Elite skater in both terms of speed and agility,” said ISS Hockey scout Joakim Eriksson. “Moves very smoothly along the blue line and has the ability to run a power play.

“Defensive game (is) not bad, but it could use some work. Added strength will help him in battles along the boards.”

Liljegren projects to be a top pairing, puck-moving defender and has drawn comparisons to Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricanes.

A right-shot defenceman, Liljegren says he aims to model his game after Ottawa Senators captain, and countryman, Erik Karlsson.

“I really like him as a defenceman and how he skates with the puck,” Liljegren said. “I’ve pretty much always been offensive throughout my junior career, always been good at skating, like to have the puck. I was a forward when I was younger so I think that’s kind of why I stayed offensive.”

In order to take his game to the next level Liljegren knows he needs to be better in his own end.

“I think I need to be more mature in my game,” he said. “I play with a lot of high-risk, got to choose my spots better. I think that’s most important.”

Whichever team selects Liljegren in the first round this month will likely send him back to Sweden where he is under contract for one more season.

“The plan is to play one more year in Sweden to develop as a player and grow as a person. Then after that, try to make it to the NHL,” said Liljegren. “I think the best thing for me is to stay in Sweden.”

DHIREN MAHIBAN