Ilya Nikolaevich Lyubushkin (russian: Илья Николаевич Любушкин; born 6 April 1994) is a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

currently playing for the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Lyubushkin made his

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL) debut playing with

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...

during the

2012–13 KHL season The 2012–13 KHL season was the fifth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began on 4 September with the Lokomotiv Cup between last year's finalists Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk. For the first time, the league consisted ...

. He played his first five professional seasons with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl before opting as a free agent following the 2017–18 season, to sign a one-year, two-way contract with the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mull ...

of the

(NHL) on 23 May 2018. In his debut season in North America in the 2018–19 season, Lyubushkin remained on the Coyotes roster for the duration of the year, adding a defensive physical presence. He registered 4 assists in 41 games while finishing fourth on the team and third among all NHL rookies with 150 hits. On 14 June 2019, Lyubushkin was re-signed to a one-year contract to continue with the Arizona Coyotes. As a restricted free agent, Lyubushkin returned for a third season with the Coyotes by agreeing to a one-year, $1 million contract extension on 5 October 2020. He was later returned on loan by the Coyotes to join former club, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, until the commencement of NHL training camp on 28 October 2020. On 19 February 2022, Lyubushkin was traded, along with teammate

Ryan Dzingel Ryan Michael Dzingel (born March 9, 1992) is an American professional ice hockey forward with the Chicago Wolves in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has pre ...

, to the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

in exchange for

Nick Ritchie Nicholas Ritchie (born December 5, 1995) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ritchie was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round, tenth ov ...

, and a choice of a third round pick in

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

or a second round pick in 2025. He scored his first goal for the Maple Leafs on April 14, 2022, against the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

. On 13 July 2022, Lyubushkin was signed as a free agent to a two-year, $5.5 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1994 births Living people Arizona Coyotes players Buffalo Sabres players Kuznetskie Medvedi players Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players Russian ice hockey defencemen Toronto Maple Leafs players Tucson Roadrunners players Undrafted National Hockey League players Russian expatriate ice hockey people Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Russian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada {{Russia-icehockey-defenceman-stub