Quoting: RipNasty
Rielly is better than Liljegren, always was and always will be. Liljegren isn't an offensive defenceman he's a two way guy who is really good at denying zone entries and has loads of talent that is still untapped. You are not really aware of who Liljegren is.
Liljegren is not great defensively either, he's very mediocre. The only people who thought otherwise are those who take team possession stats and try to scale them down to individual players. This makes the players who are most sheltered from defensive zone starts look like the best defensive players based on their evaluation.
Liljegren is more sheltered from defensive zone starts than any of our regular D, only Timmins and klingberg are started more in the offensive zone. That's because they're flawed defensively. Liljegren has been getting eaten alive by opposing team's forechecks, has been losing net front battles and has not shown great poise with the puck as of late.
By contrast, benoit is started in the defensive zone more than any of our D, because he's our best defensive D-man. Despite the major gap in their usage, benoit still somehow has a better CF%, the same stat used to suggest he went from being the worst defensive defenseman on the league's worst defensive team, to the best defensive defenseman on a top team in the leafs. Again, despite the difference in usage, he also has a better CF% rel and fewer GA/60.
In terms of actual goal differential, he's a +2, while liljegren is a +3. Given the roles they play and the players they share the ice with, this is a great look for benoit and a not so great one for liljegren.
This is the same reason lily lost his spot in the starting lineup in last year's playoffs, being passed by the likes of schenn, holl, gio, etc.
No matter how you evaluate him, lily really isn't anything special. He's at the age now where defenseman have already entered their prime years, so expecting him to become a top pairing D in the near future is simply naive.
I'll leave it at that.