Toronto Maple Leafs: Evaluating Iya Lyubushkin So Far

The Toronto Maple Leafs have and will be linked to almost every player in the NHL over the next couple of weeks as we wind our way towards the NHL’s Trade Deadline.

With both the Eastern Conference Title and the President’s Trophy within their sights, and with designs on a Stanley Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs will almost certainly be making moves to improve their team.

But, like they have in the past, the Leafs acted early this year as well, trading for Arizona Coyotes defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin.

That was eight games ago, and so today I thought it would be interesting to check in and see how that trade is working out.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Ilya Lyubushkin

Whatever happens with Lyubushkin, you’ve got to hand the Leafs credit for making a smart, low risk trade.  They got out of Nick Ritchie’s contract for this year and next, and were able to add a defenseman with top 4 potential, who provides elements their team is missing.

The cost of getting out of Ritchie’s contract alone was probably worth the (worst case scenario) of a future second round pick, and therefore you can look at Lyubushkin as a kind of lottery ticket where if you cash it for anything is found money.

And so far so good for Lyubushkin.

In eight games, he’s averaging 15 minutes of ice time (5v5) which makes him the #5 on the team by ice time (though I wouldn’t read too much into that, as Jake Muzzin has been out the entire time, while Rasmus Sandin has also missed some games).

Lyubushkin’s most common partners so far have been Dermott and Sandin, which suggests the Leafs see him (at best) as a third pairing player.  Most significantly: he is getting less ice time, and usage than Justin Holl.

Though the Toronto Maple Leafs newest defenseman is a one-dimensional player noted only for his defense,  during his first eight games, Lyubushkin has surprisingly allowed the second highest shots-against per minute on the team’s blue-line, though he must be keeping them somewhat low-quality because he leads the Leafs in expected-goals against per minute.

Though it is an extremely short sample size, and 3rd pairing minutes, Lyubushkin has lowered the Leafs scoring chances and high-danger scoring chances against while he’s on the ice.

Overall, with Lyubushkin on the ice, the Leafs are posting a 55% Corsi, and getting 63% of the dangerous chances, and with a 58% expected goals rating, it seems they aren’t giving up too much offense to do so.

He’s even added one assist and 43 seconds per game of penalty killing.

Lyubushkin has been good, other than in the game against the Kraken (him and Dermott were by far the Leafs worst pair in that game).

Where Does Lyubushkin Fit?

Going forward, he brings an element the Leafs don’t otherwise have, so he could still find himself a regular if the Leafs blue-line was entirely healthy.  However, we must keep in mind that Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren have put up incredible numbers from the third pairing, and are much more dynamic players.

As good as Lyubushkin is, he is never going to be better than Liljegren or Sandin, and despite the need for this type of player, I think it would be an extremely short-sighted decision to play him over either of the Leafs promising young defenseman.

I think the best way to use Lyubushkin would be to pair him with Muzzin and use that pairing a little more softly than Keefe tended to use the Muzzin/Holl pairing in the past.   In conjunction, the Leafs could keep the Sandin/Liljegren pairing together but give them more minutes and responsibility.

In this way I believe the Leafs could avoid adding to the blue-line and instead focus on making their forwards better.

I like the pick-up, and I think he’s a good player whose skill-set is missing from the Leafs blue-line, especially with Jake Muzzin out.  I do, however, caution against overrating a player who provides absolutely no offense, and suggest the Leafs would do much better to keep their third pairing of Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren in tact for the playoffs, as they have completely dominated in a third pairing role this season.