The Toronto Maple Leafs acquire defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from Anaheim with the Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes retaining salary on his contract.

The Toronto Maple Leafs got a right-handed defenseman just over 26 hours after losing out on the Chris Tanev sweepstakes.

Ilya Lyubushkin is headed to Toronto from the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks retained half of his $2.75-million salary, while the Carolina Hurricanes retained a quarter of the salary for the remainder of the season. That leaves the Maple Leafs on the hook for just $687,500 of Lyubushkin's cap hit. He'll be a UFA after this season.

The Ducks receive Toronto's 2025 third-round pick, while the Hurricanes receive the Leafs' 2024 sixth-round pick. The Leafs also received the reserve rights to unsigned forward Kirill Slepets from Carolina.

Lyubushkin, 29, has four assists, 112 hits and 138 blocked shots in 55 games this season for the Ducks while averaging 17:09 in ice time per game. 

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound blueliner from Moscow previously played for Toronto in 2021-22, playing 31 games for them and recording two goals, six points, 93 hits and 32 blocks. Toronto acquired him from the Arizona Coyotes that season with forward Ryan Dzingel for forward Nick Ritchie and a conditional draft pick.

Lyubushkin went undrafted but joined the NHL in 2018-19 with the Coyotes. In the six seasons since, he's had five goals, 38 assists and 43 points in 334 games.

Slepets, 24, is a former 2019 fifth-round draft pick by the Hurricanes currently playing for his hometown Khabarovsk in the KHL. He has eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points in 53 games this season.

With Lyubushkin joining the team and goaltender Joseph Woll coming off the LTIR, the Maple Leafs have roughly $1.4 million in current cap space. In 2025, the Leafs' highest of four picks come in the fifth round, with one from the Chicago Blackhawks and their own. For the 2024 NHL draft, they still have a first-rounder, a third-rounder from the New York Islanders, a fourth-rounder, three fifth-rounders and two seventh-rounders.

The Ducks, meanwhile, add a third-rounder to their draft stock during their rebuild. They currently have six picks in the first three rounds for 2024 and a first-rounder and two third-rounders in 2025.

Carolina still has about $2.97 million in cap space after retaining $687,500 of Lyubushkin's cap hit with nobody on LTIR, per PuckPedia.

For more on the trade, including when the Ducks announced Lyubushkin wouldn't play in Thursday's matchup due to ongoing trade discussions, check out The Hockey News' Toronto Maple Leafs site. And check out The Hockey News' Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes sites for more team-specific coverage.