While fellow pending UFA Joel Edmundson has confirmed his intentions of going to the open market on July 1st to see what's out there for him, the Maple Leafs have yet to open contract negotiations with Ilya Lyubushkin, leaving their blueline very thin at the moment.
Not only are TJ Brodie and the aforementioned Edmundson expected to hit free agency, but if Lyubushkin does as well, the Leafs will have only Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe, Simon Benoit and Conor Timmins signed through at least next season.
Lyubushkin meshed very well with Morgan Rielly in each of his first two tours with the Leafs. However, with a bevy of changes expected in Toronto this summer, everything seems to be very much up in the air at the moment.
Lyubushkin, 30, has earned $2.75M per season over the last two seasons and with the Leafs expected to be very tight up against the cap again in 2024-25. Lyubushkin may simply end up being a cap casualty in Toronto.
"The Russian Bear" posted just 4 assists in 19 regular season games with the Leafs after coming over from Anaheim ahead of the deadline, but he racked up 3 assists in 7 playoff games against Boston as well. In my eyes, he held up his end of the deal. It's just too bad the Leafs couldn't capitalize and get past the Bruins in Round 1.
