He previously played for the Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Anaheim Ducks of the NHL and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
However, after the plane crash that killed many of the players from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), a draft was held to repopulate the team and Lyubushkin was among those selected.
As a restricted free agent, Lyubushkin returned for a third season with the Coyotes by agreeing to a one-year, $1 million contract extension on 5 October 2020.
[5] He was later returned on loan by the Coyotes to join former club, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, until the commencement of NHL training camp on 28 October 2020.
[6] During the 2020–21 season, Lyubushkin scored his first NHL goal against Jonathan Quick in a 4–3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on 8 April 2021.
[10] He made his Stanley Cup playoffs debut on 2 May in a 5–0 rout over the Tampa Bay Lightning, a game in which he fought Corey Perry.
[16] After one season in Buffalo, Lyubushkin was traded to the Anaheim Ducks on 18 August 2023, in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft (previously acquired in a deal for John Klingberg).
Toronto also acquired the rights to unsigned Carolina draft pick Kirill Slepets, who was playing with Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL at the time.