Buffalo Sabres sign Ilya Lyubushkin to two-year deal

The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to a two-year contract worth $2.75 million per season, according to a report by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

Lyubushkin, 28, split the 2021–22 regular season between the Arizona Coyotes and Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring two goals and 15 points while averaging 17:27 in 77 games. He added one assist in seven playoff games as the Maple Leafs fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.

An undrafted free agent out of Russia, Lyubushkin signed as a free agent with the Coyotes in 2018. He spent the next four seasons in Arizona, helping the club qualify for the 2020 playoffs and seeing his role increase steadily every year.

The Maple Leafs acquired Lyubushkin and Ryan Dzingel from the Coyotes prior to the 2022 trade deadline in exchange for Nick Ritchie and a conditional 2025 second-round draft pick. Lyubushkin scored two goals and six points while averaging 16:28 in 31 games with the Maple Leafs after the deal.

In 211 career games with the Coyotes and Maple Leafs, Lyubushkin has scored three goals and 25 points. He’s a 6’2″, 201-pound right-handed defenseman from Moscow who played five seasons with KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl before joining the Coyotes.

With Lyubushkin now in the fold, the Sabres have seven defensemen with NHL experience under contract for 2022–23: Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Lyubushkin, Henri Jokiharju, Jacob Bryson, Mattias Samuelsson, and Casey Fitzgerald.