3 Defenseman the Toronto Maple Leafs Should Try to Trade For
No. 3: Ilya Lyubushkin
Wouldn’t it be great to see a return of the Russian Bear, Ilya Lyubushkin?
Despite being an unknown player when he was originally acquired by the Leafs, Lyubushkin made an immediate impact and played great alongside Rielly.
The two turned into the team’s top pairing defense core and a reliable pair in the playoffs.
After making the mistake of signing Nick Ritchie, Kyle Dubas turned Ritchie into Lyubushkin, which was one of the best moves of the season.
Unfortunately, he left for Buffalo after the season, but there’s no reason to believe there can’t be a reunion.
He’s currently playing a rebuilding Anaheim Ducks team and is a pending UFA, so you’d think that they’d be open to trading him for an asset.
At $2.75M, he has a reasonable contract that the Leafs could trade for, but the Ducks also have a ton of cap-space, so they could be willing to eat 25 or 50 percent of it.
Next. 10 (Mostly) Elite Options on Defense. dark
I can speak on behalf of all Leafs fans that we’d all love to see Lyubushkin back in a Leafs uniform this year.