After practice on Sunday, Kyle Dubas discussed the addition of Ilya Lyubushkin to the blue line, waiving new acquisition Ryan Dzingel, Nick Ritchie moving on, whether he has more moves to make between now and the trade deadline, Nick Robertson’s development, and much more.
What was the thinking behind the deal with the Coyotes last night?
Dubas: We feel the trade improves our cap situation this year while also addressing two needs — one on the backend, and one up front. In terms of depth, the deal on the backend is probably more prominent than the one up front.
That is what we were looking to accomplish. We think it is a good trade for both us and the Coyotes. It was good to get that across the line last night.
What made Ilya Lyubushkin attractive to you?
Dubas: For us, we don’t really have a lot of guys who have his utility. He is obviously a big, strong, right-shot defenseman. He is strong defensively, able to kill penalties, and plays with a little more physicality than what we may have.
He has kind of gone under the radar in Arizona. We thought, compared to the market on other types of guys, it was a good bet for us. We can get him in, have him work with our coaching staff and our development staff, and see if we can continue to build on the job that Arizona did with him, which was to bring him over from Russia and do a very good job getting him to this point.
Obviously, he was playing more this year and playing against better players this year and doing so fairly well. He probably doesn’t fit their timeline as a UFA in Arizona.
Do you see him as a top-four guy? What do you see as his ceiling?
Dubas: What I see is him getting into that mix and competing with the others. May the best defenseman win that spot. It will be based on their performance. Some guys are young. Others are sort of in the middle like a Travis Dermott.
We feel, with Timothy and Rasmus, really strong about what they have done throughout the year. We also like the depth in Carl Dahlstrom and Alex Biega down below. We feel that just helps the group overall and improves the team overall.
Are you looking for an upgrade on defense even after this?
Dubas: I don’t think we will ever say never at this point. Every day is a new day. If we have the chance to improve the team, we will be looking to do so.
How would you assess Nick Ritchie’s time here from beginning to end and how he handled the ebbs and flows that occurred?
Dubas: When we signed him in the summer, I think everybody wished it was going to play out differently than it has. It is so interesting how it all goes. He had a lot of chances early in the year. They didn’t go in. The impact of that on confidence and chemistry is massive.
Michael Bunting steps up, Kerfoot finds good chemistry with John, and it just doesn’t really play out well for Nick, right? That’s the way she goes. Sometimes she goes. Sometimes she doesn’t.
Ryan Dzingel was placed on waivers. Is there another corresponding cap move that needs to happen with Ilya Lyubushkin coming in?
Dubas: No, we are cap compliant now. Just for today, we had to send one of the waiver-exempt defensemen down. Timothy went down during the week. With Rasmus, we had him work with the development staff this morning with the Marlies. He will be eligible to play tomorrow night if needed. Otherwise, we are now accruing some cap space daily, so that is nice.
With Dzingel, we put him on waivers today at 2 p.m. I spoke with him and his agent last night, so they are aware of everything. We will just see where that goes. He is an NHL player. Selfishly, we hope he gets through and can provide us with depth, but if not, that will just be another contract slot and some cash for us.
Were you happy to get out ahead of the trade deadline in a sense with this move?
Dubas: I think Brad Treliving beat everybody to that getting out in front of it. Especially when you are acquiring a player like Lyubushkin — and even bringing in Dzingel as a veteran guy — he has his family that is in Arizona. There is going to be a bit of an adjustment.
He goes from playing in Phoenix to playing in Toronto; there is an adjustment in terms of the amount of attention and focus. The longer that we can have for him to adjust, the better. It was good to get that one across the line yesterday.
Were you always intent on getting roster players back if you were giving up a pick in this trade?
Dubas: This was the one we kind of locked in on. It was the way that it worked out. The decision with Nick was that in the end, it wasn’t going to be the end of the world for us to keep him and have him as our own depth. Basically, that is the purpose that we hope Dzingel will serve now if that works out.
What we were trying to do in the end was make a good deal for us where we could add something and both teams could come out of it with something that they wanted. This was the one scenario [where that was the case].
There were a number of other teams that were interested, but they would’ve involved retention and other items we weren’t interested in. Arizona had the cap space. They also had a couple of players we were interested in. We were able to meet their objectives in the deal as well.
For us, we didn’t really focus on anything else because this was the one we honed in on, feeling that with Lyubushkin and Dzingel, it met some of our own internal objectives.
How hard has it been to add depth? You tried to claim Adam Brooks, but you lost him. Does it speak to the flat-cap situation where teams are looking for value whenever they can get it?
Dubas: Yeah, we have tried with Adam Brooks a couple of times. We were sad to lose him at the beginning of the year. We knew we were going to have to go to 21 players on the roster. We tried to get Amadio through a couple of weeks later; Vegas scooped him and then have signed him since to a two-year extension.
Our guys have stepped up. Our younger players with the Marlies have played a little bit better than we probably projected them to play, so it has sort of reduced it. But you are always looking to add.
We were able to get Kyle Clifford once he cleared waivers. That was a good thing for us. But it has been tough.
Down there, there are not only the young players we are in touch with but also the Brett Seneys, Joey Andersons, the Cliffords. We talked about the players on AHL contracts, whether it is the Bobby McManns, Antti Suomelas, Curtis Douglas, or Josh Ho-Sang. Those players have also played well for them and really gotten things going in the right direction in the standings for the Marlies.
Along with the young players there, it really kind of bolsters that. Once we get closer to the trade deadline, we can make the decision on whether we want to convert any of them to make them eligible to come up.
How do you think Josh Ho-Sang’s Olympic experience went for him?
Dubas: I haven’t talked to him, but I just think it is a great experience for anybody to go there and go through that type of event. For him, it is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — and probably for most of those players, save for the ones returning from the 2018 team. We hope come 2026 it is going to be a best-on-best event, but until then, I think it is great for Josh to go there and showcase himself against that group of peers and stand out.
I didn’t see the game against China, but in all of the other games, especially early in the tournament, I thought he showcased his skill and played well. He probably didn’t play as much as he had hoped for going in, but those are short tournaments and you are trying to bring your group together quickly against others who have more chemistry. Whether it is Sweden, Russia, Finland, they have all played together throughout the year at some of these other events. The Canadian and US clubs didn’t.
I was happy with the play of all of our guys there. With Matt Knies and Nick Abruzzese with the US, I thought they were outstanding. I thought Pontus Holmberg for Sweden had a great tournament as well.
Great experience for those players. The ability to go to Beijing and the Olympics will help them help us.
What is the timeline for Dmitri Ovchinnikov coming over?
Dubas: That is totally based on his Visa process. Reid Mitchell will work to try to get that done as soon as possible. It is made more difficult by vaccine availability in Russia and which ones are compliant with coming into Canada. We are going to sort through all of that and work through the work permits.
I believe he is vaccinated. We are waiting for the work permit, which will be a couple of weeks, and then we’ll get him up to speed with the Marlies.
Where do you feel Nick Robertson is at in his development?
Dubas: He has come back to the Marlies coming off of a long injury, and he has been outstanding. It is probably the best I have seen him play at that level. He is only 20 years old. Sometimes, that gets forgotten because of the strange way his development has gone.
He was drafted in the second round, had a great season with Peterborough, and then came to our team and played in the bubble for us. Last season, as a 19-year-old, in his third game of the year in Ottawa, he gets injured. And then he gets injured late in the Marlies season, and he has a bad injury in the second game of this season against Manitoba with the Marlies.
Since he has come back — I think it has been six or seven games now — it is the best I have seen him play at this level, not only on the puck but off of it, and on the penalty kill. He is much more dangerous with the puck.
His skating looks a lot better, which is a credit to him and the work he put in with the staff during his injury to continue to become more explosive, improve his acceleration, get open, and use his shot. As everyone has seen in the last couple of days, he is shooting it in the net from distance.
We are very, very happy with him. The key for us is for him to continue to build momentum. One of the things we have learned in the past with him… Last year, with the taxi squad, it was up and down. It tends to stunt momentum. We want to see him continue to build momentum and continue to take on a huge role with the penalty kill and defensively while producing offensively. It will just be a matter of time until he forces our hand.
What is your confidence level in the group as it is currently constituted?
Dubas: I feel good about the group. I think it is a very good team that, as you all see in covering the team every day, has a lot of areas where we can get better — last night being a primary example.
The coaching staff has done a great job on special teams. Everyone knows what I think of Sheldon as a coach. I think, more than anything, the ambition and the focus of the players in the room to continue to get better and improve on the things that they’re lacking — and accepting that they are not a finished product and have to put the work in — is what excites me most about the group.
I know we will get better as it goes along. At the same time, we will try to continue to improve it wherever we can.
