Mark Giordano blown away by the play of 22-year-old Timothy Liljegren

For Toronto, Ontario native Mark Giordano, Wednesday's Next Gen game was not your run of the mill Leafs debut. For starters, the 38-year-old didn't even get to pull the iconic blue and white jersey over his head, but rather a brand new black and blue/black and gold reversible alternate jersey inspired by pop sensation Justin Bieber.

Giordano's homecoming was a resounding success, as the Leafs picked up a thrilling 3-2 win, scoring a pair of shorthanded goals, including a third period tally from Pierre Engvall, while the Leafs were killing off a 4-minute double-minor, which turned out to be the game winner.

The veteran defenseman was paired with rookie Timothy Liljegren for his Leafs debut and the pair was actually quite impressive. Dominant, in fact.

Following the game, Giordano provided a fantastic post-game media availability. Towards the end, he was asked what he thought of Liljegren and how he felt playing alongside the 22-year-old. Gio was extremely complimentary of his young colleague.



The former Flames, Kraken captain was wide-eyed while talking about the play of Liljegren, almost in disbelief himself how poised, patient and fundamentally sound the young Swede was in their first crack as a pair. He came across as very genuine in his assessment of Liljegren. You can see Gio's full availability below. His comments on Liljegren begin at the 4-minute mark:


I mean, look. Mark Giordano is a Norris Trophy winner. To see him appear to be in awe of what he saw from the youngster and to struggle to try to quantify just how skilled Liljegren truly is, it's pretty evident that he sees a player with a bright future in the 22-year-old defenseman.

Sheldon Keefe has already declared his intent to continue to use Morgan Rielly and Ilya Lyubushkin as the team's top pair. We know that Giordano has a history with T.J. Brodie from their time together in Calgary, but Keefe has found a second pair that seems to work well in Brodie and Justin Holl. If the plan is to roll with a third pair of Giordano and Liljegren for the time being, the Leafs are in a very good spot from a balance perspective.

The crazy thing is that the Leafs also have Jake Muzzin and Rasmus Sandin coming back from injury at some point over the few weeks as well. To say that the Leafs are suddenly incredibly deep on the blueline is certainly an understatement.