Time was, Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren would go for dinner together when the Maple Leafs were on the road.
We’d imagine that every so often, the conversation between the two Swedes would turn to their respective hockey careers and where they saw themselves in the Maple Leafs’ future.
When the two hooked up for a bite earlier this week in Washington, it didn’t sound like there was much reminiscing about their time in Toronto. It will be two years at the end of February that the Leafs traded Sandin to the Capitals, and it hasn’t yet been two months since the Leafs dealt Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks.
Neither panned out the way the Leafs hoped after selecting each in the first round of the NHL draft — Liljegren 17th in 2017 and Sandin 29th in 2018.
When the Sharks were in D.C. to play the Caps on Tuesday, dinner plans were made.
“We got to catch up a bunch,” Sandin said. “We haven’t talked so much about what went wrong here or what didn’t fit for the team or for us, or whatever it was, but I’m happy for him.
“It’s what he needed to get a little bit of a restart. He wasn’t playing a lot here in the beginning of this year, so I think his role in San Jose is going to be a lot of fun for him, and a new challenge, so good for him.”
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Sandin looks back on his time with the Leafs with good feelings, but he’s quite happy in Washington. Last March, he signed a five-year extension with an average annual value of $4.6 million US.
“When I got traded, I had no idea about it, and it turned out to be a good thing for me,” Sandin said. “When you get traded, it’s a lot of emotions. I was in different stages. I was pissed, I was sad, and I was excited as well to come to a new team and accept a new challenge. I’m enjoying it every single day.”