This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Ilya Lyubushkin
Dallas Stars Defense
A right-shot defensive defenceman who played 80 games on the top pair, and 1 goal.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ARI | 41 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -9 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0.0 | 13:44 |
| 2019-20 | ARI | 51 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +4 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 0.0 | 14:11 |
| 2020-21 | ARI | 42 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 2.8 | 15:42 |
| 2021-22 | ARI/TOR | 77 | 2 | 13 | 15 | -2 | 51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 3.7 | 17:27 |
| 2022-23 | BUF | 68 | 2 | 12 | 14 | -2 | 38 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 4.9 | 15:01 |
| 2023-24 | ANA/TOR | 74 | 0 | 8 | 8 | -11 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 0.0 | 17:07 |
| 2024-25 | DAL | 80 | 1 | 13 | 14 | +5 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 2.0 | 17:23 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 433 | 6 | 55 | 61 | -28 | 219 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 297 | 2.0 | 16:06 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
1 goal and 13 assists in 80 games for 14 points, plus-5, on 17:23 a night.
50.6 per cent at five-on-five, the 59th percentile, over 1,121 minutes, largely beside Thomas Harley. His on-ice goals were 59-43 against an expected 49-48, which is a pairing that got considerably better results than the run of play deserved.
The Finesse Game
Essentially none. 51 shots in 80 games with 81 per cent of them from beyond 40 feet, and 1 goal; the first pass is short, safe and frequently to the boards.
The puck leaves his stick quickly, which on a club with this much skill up front is enough. He is not asked to make a play and he does not attempt one.
The Physical Game
6-2 and 206, and this is the entire reason he has a job. He hits, he clears the crease, and he is willing to take a run at anybody in the league.
32 penalty minutes across a full season is about right for the style, and he does not lose his head. On a blue line where Heiskanen, Harley and Lundkvist all defend with position, he is the one who defends with weight.
The Intangibles
Undrafted, arrived in North America at 24, and has now played six NHL seasons on five clubs as the man a contender adds in March.
The honest reading is that the results flattered him last season by roughly 10 goals. He is a serviceable third-pair defenceman being used on the top pair because Heiskanen was hurt, and a club that finishes 27th in expected goals against should not be comfortable with that arrangement continuing.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 1,121 minutes
- Expected goals
- 50.6%
- 59th pct
- Shot attempts
- 47.3%
- 27th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 59 for, 43 against. Expected: 49.1 and 47.9.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 35 points above where the report does. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 337 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 68 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 1121 minutes at five-on-five
- Esa Lindell20%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- DAL took 50.7% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 50.6% — 0.1 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- First pair, 1,121 minutes at five-on-five — 78th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Harley | 49.9% | 51.2% | 54.5% |
| Wyatt Johnston | 47.6% | 51.9% | 52.8% |
| Matt Duchene | 52.7% | 49.8% | 50.6% |
49.9% together, 51.2% for him apart and 54.5% for Harley apart. Harley was better away from him while his own share held, which is a mark against him more than for him.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
94 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 1 of them goals. His median goal came from 33 feet. 3% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 81% from beyond forty.