With the injury to Jake Muzzin in Montréal, it seems very likely Ilya Lyubushkin is going to get a trial by fire tonight in Columbus. Like most of you, I’ll confess to making no effort to watch the Arizona Coyotes tank for Shane Wright this year after years of losing either intentionally or not. But I watched a lot of Lokomotiv in the years Lyubushkin was there, because he played with Yegor Korshkov, and I have not one recollection of the man.
The general zeitgeist on Lyubushkin is that he might be a second pair defender if you want someone to stay at home — think Ron Hainsey playing with Morgan Rielly.