After the Tampa Bay Lightning made Cal Foote the 14th pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, the rest of the teams behind them went on a run of defensemen. Foote’s selection was followed by Erik Brannstrom (Vegas Golden Knights), Juuso Valimaki (Calgary Flames), Timothy Liljegren (Toronto Maple Leafs), and Urho Vaakanainen (Boston Bruins).
The instant reaction to Foote by a lot of fans is “Why not Liljegren?” And that’s a very good question to ask. Brannstrom, Valimaki, and Vaakanainen are left-handed defensemen. After the Lightning acquired Mikhail Sergachev in the Jonathan Drouin trade, they’ve set themselves up with a very good left handed prospect to slot in behind Victor Hedman in the future.