Defensive Depth or Liability? Grading Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin & Cody Ceci’s 2024-25 Season

Defensive Depth or Liability? Grading Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin & Cody Ceci’s 2024-25 Season

Three defenseman, one season. A roller coaster of minutes, mistakes, and moments as our season grades continue on Locked on Stars. You’re Locked on Stars, your daily podcast on the Dallas Stars, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Howdy Stars fans. Welcome back to another episode of Locked On Stars, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. I’m Joey Ericson, former producer 105 through the fan. Please be sure to subscribe. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. And as always, thank you so much for making us a part of your day and making us your first listen. Some of my harshest grades of the 202425 season are in today’s episode as we look at Matt Dumba, Elia Labushkin, and Cody CC. The misfits on the Dallas Stars blue line, I suppose. And I decided to lump these three together because I feel like they all fall into a similar category for Dallas Stars fans. So, we’re going to analyze a 2024 25 campaign for Dumba, Labouchkin, and Ze. Let me know your letter grades in the comments below. Also, hit the subscribe button. Hit the notification bell. Never miss an episode of Locked On Stars. Today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use code lock.nhl. monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. This will be the second last episode of our our season grades here unlocked on Stars. We’ll finish up with Bishel Lungquist and Peter Vic either tomorrow or in a few days. and then we’ll be done with our season grades. These have been a lot of fun. I appreciate those of you that are following along. Be sure to check out some of my earlier episodes. We went through the forwards first and now we’re wrapping up the Bluel Liners. We’ll start today with Matt Dumba, who was acquired uh almost a year ago at this time, July 1st. He was acquired by the Dallas Stars, a 2-year 3.75 million cap hit. The Stars certainly paid the righty tax on Matt Dumba and they were hoping for him to refind his game from a few years ago when he was with the Minnesota Wild and he showed some offensive flashes 50 points with the Minnesota Wild in 2017 18. He had jumped around the previous few years with Arizona and Tampa Bay and he just wasn’t quite himself once again this season in Dallas. He really never refound his game. Played in 63 games, had a goal, nine assists, and 10 points, but unfortunately did not make a single appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I think that went back to a lot of my concerns on July 1st when the Stars signed Matt Dumba. Are these the moves that are going to get you over the hump? And can he play in some high leverage situations? And also, I’ll defend Dumba to some degree because the stars were not playing him in a role that I thought he could be successful in. And once again, he had to play in some of these high lever moments. And he had 60 penalty minutes this past season in 63 games. That was second on the Dallas Stars. We knew that kind of came with the the package, so to speak. Really everywhere he’s been, he’s taken a lot of penalty minutes. He’s physical, right? He was supposed to bring this physical element to the Dallas Stars that Dallas was missing on the blue line. And as I said multiple times, I don’t think it comes in a package like Matt Dumba, but that’s what we were looking for. He had a total of 70 hits this past season because this is what we were expecting out of Matt Dumba. That was the fourth least of his career. And um in uh 20189 when he played 32 games, he had 60 hits. So, he played above 60 games, had 70 hits. It was the fourth least uh of his career. So, not very good um in in that category if that’s what he was supposed to bring. Um he played with Mero Hkin in a bit. I was actually pretty intrigued and hoping it was going to work out because it allowed me to play on his strong side, but you’re also asking him to play uh top pairing minutes, which at this point of his career, his best days are behind him. That’s not where he is going to succeed. about 25 games in that experiment stopped and then he was moved up and down the lineup. And I also don’t think he had a terrible regular season. Was it great? No. He uh was a minus five on the year, which was second worst among Dman. He was only better than Brennan Smith. He also had 62 giveaways um which was the most of his career. Um and pretty astounding uh numbers as well. 62 uh this past season was the most of his uh career. Um and of course that that stems from just his uh lack uh of puck moving uh ability at this point in his career. He’s not the player he once was. Um and uh he he really really struggled to just move the puck up the ice and we saw that throughout the season and then eventually led to him being a healthy scratch during all 18 games of the Stanley Cup playoffs which was a bit of a gut punch. And once again, you’re paying Matt Dumba $3.75 million and you’re replacing him with Alex Petravic, who played the entire season in the AHL and you’re more comfortable with him over Matt Dumba during the Stanley Cup playoffs. And once again, it goes back to the decision why you decided to even sign Matt Dumba a year ago. And I know you need bodies. You need some guys to eat up some minutes. Uh this past season he played 881 minutes which is about middle of the pack um in his uh career. You look at his total minutes was about fourth least. Um if you include some of the the PK numbers as well. Um he did have a stretch where he started to pick up some assists in the middle of the season. I I thought about December to January um even into February bit we sort of got the best version of Matt Dumba. Thought he had a bit of a slow start. Then he started to to pick it up. You can live with some of the penalty minutes. Um I I think he’s one of the the few guys that would stand up for some others too. If Rope Hints um took a cheap shot, let’s just say in the Western Conference final. I think if Matt Dumbo was on the ice, he would take exception to that. and maybe they did need Dumba to maybe uh have that presence or just that ability to stick up for others and and all and I’ll applaud him um for for that. Um he played with Liam Bishell um quite a bit um during the the end of kind of the season when Bishell got called up. Um he played with him and I thought he was um a rather decent partner, just a veteran that stood up for Bishell um and stood up for the young rookie. And um I I think you have to acknowledge that and acknowledge some of the good things that Dumba did. Uh and maybe didn’t contribute to winning all the time. Um and maybe it wasn’t his individual play, but I think as a locker room presence, um and just maybe a veteran, uh I I think he could do worse than Matt Dumba. He’s not worth the $3.75 million you’re paying him. um don’t get it wrong, but uh for for what I think he could provide for some of the younger defenseman um and you you never heard him complain. Um there was no noise coming from him when he was a healthy scratch or when he wasn’t playing. And um I think you have to acknowledge and applaud Dumbo for just being a a true professional throughout the year um despite maybe having a rough year um as as just a player. Um you can look at some of his overall numbers um advanced numbers it’s uh you know nothing spectacular hockey stat cards. His offensive rating was minus 1.3 his defensive rating minus 7.3. His expected goals against 41.05 which was uh of course not very good. Um and he was playing with different partners throughout the year. We saw him with Harley a bit. We saw him with Hasten. Saw him with Labouchkin. Um or maybe not Labouchkin Abyrol as I mentioned. Um he just kind of hopped around, but uh not not a strong season for for Matt Dumba. And I gave him a D. Um I have a a D for for Dumba, which uh is uh by far the the lowest letter grade I have given to a Dallas Stars player for this past season. But him just being a healthy scratch in the playoffs, I don’t think I can go above that. um because for what the stars were asking him to be and let’s face it, they were hoping him to be and we have to take Jim Nil um Jim Nil’s word for it. Like they were pretty happy with uh what they did last summer with Labouchkin and Dumba and they were thinking he could refin his game if that was the expectation. Well, that didn’t happen and I think my grade needs to reflect that. So, I I give Dumba a D for this past season. And again, I was a defender of him points. I didn’t think he was that bad, but when it came down to it, they’re playing him in, you know, top four roles um for a chunk of the season. Um it wasn’t great. Eventually, they kind of moved him back. He played with Lungquist quite a bit, too. Um and uh and and that sort of became a pair until Lungquist of course um ended his season with an injury and um that was um sort of uh just uh an experiment too, but um just never really quite worked out. So a D for for Matt Dumba. Um, let’s uh go to his other partner that was acquired on July 1st, Elia Leouchkin, who out of these three, I think has probably the highest defenders or maybe the most praise from stars fans. I’ll give Labouchkin’s letter grade in just a moment. Today’s episode of Locked on Stars is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. 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That’s modermoney.com. Codelock to NHL for half off your first year. Elie Labouchkin out of the three defenseman we’re analyzing today probably will have the highest praise from Stars fans, I would um assume. Could be wrong on that, but he was pretty reliable throughout the season. He played in 80 games. He had a goal of 13 assists for 14 points in 14 playoff games. He had zero goals, three assists um and three points. And if you look at Leouchkin’s just surface level numbers throughout this 24 25 campaign, it was one of his best years of of his career. But I I think at the end of the day, his minutes really caught up to him. he played the most amount of minutes um of his career this past season with the Dallas Stars and I think just those minutes in general started to catch up to him. So uh 1300 minutes it was 1390 um which is the the most amount of his career. He averaged 17 minutes and 23 seconds um a night. That was the the second most of his career. Um his plus minus was a plus five. Uh that was a careerhigh and he had 13 even strength um assists. So some of the the surface level numbers as I mentioned I I thought um he succeeded. He had 146 total shot attempts. Um and look u this isn’t a number um uh that’s going to jump out to you, but that was the most of his career. So um I think for a large chunk of the year he really did succeed. He played his most amount of minutes along alongside Thomas Harley, which I’m sure really really helped and was probably a reason he had. I I mean, probably not. It was probably the predominant reason he had one of the best years of his career. That was a pairing that played the most amount of minutes with one another um out of any other pairing with uh the Dallas Stars. His goals for percentage um was 50 um% um at five on five. Um if you uh look at some of his uh five on five numbers throughout the playoffs, they weren’t glowing, but he I think he started to to struggle as the minutes started to really wear along. His expected goals against was 11.37. That was seventh on the Dallas Stars throughout the playoffs. Um and once again, he was a healthy scratch um for uh the most important stretch of the season in that Western Conference Finals. expected goals forward percentage was 16th uh 44% alongside Essa Lindell and Cody Cece. You’ll learn that just CC and Lindell were just an awful pairing here. And and we’ll get to to CC um and why that pairing was just so so bad for the Dallas Stars. And I just think as the the minutes started to pile up and then when you get to the Stanley Cup playoffs, then it’s some really heavy high lever minutes, especially when he’s playing mostly alongside Thomas Harley. I I think it just became really really hard for for Leouchkin to uh to to just be successful um and continue um to play consistently and play well because I thought for a large chunk of the regular season, I I really enjoyed Labouchka. I I really did. Um I I I thought he was good for for what the stars needed him to be and it was just a solid enough partner for Harley. Uh he was uh on the penalty kill. He played the second most penalty kill minutes this past season. Him and Lindell were were just kind of the shutdown pairing that the Stars trotted out. 188 minutes 57 seconds on the PK. 84 hits was third um on the Dallas Stars. Um he brought a level of physicality uh to the Stars blue line, but 109 giveaways the most of his career. And I mean a staggering amount. 109 giveaways. His second uh most up to that point or his previous career high was 40 back in 23-24. And maybe some of that came with he was just playing with the puck more often because he pl was playing alongside uh Thomas Harley. Uh but that that is a pretty pretty alarming number when you look at 109 giveaways. His previous careerh high was was 40. So, um, once again, it sort of feeds into some of your concerns or weaknesses that we talked about with Dumba. Just when it came to, um, his overall defensive work and his defensive zone um, and ability for the stars to just move pucks up to their forwards, he struggled in that area. Had a strong a strong defensive rating though, plus 0.2 via hockey stats. Um, his offensive rating was minus uh, 3.0. expected goals against 52.09 that was, you know, kind of in the 10th uh percentile, but it was a really strong really strong penalty killer for the Stars this past season. Um, and as I mentioned, he ate up a lot of minutes there. Um, and then again, you look at some of his surface level numbers. One of the best years of his career, played the most amount of games, which was good. Um, and I think he he fought through some injuries, too. Um, he he missed u a couple of games. I think he missed a game in January and then a game a bit later on. Um he he took a beating at some points. Um I know he was dealing with a shoulder injury. Um and again was one of these guys that uh I think played in a situation that was not going um to allow him to be um as successful as we were hoping for. Again, I think um the best situation for Leouchkin is he’s your sixth defenseman. Um maybe fifth. He uh because that’s just what he is u at this point um in his career. Um and he’ll be 31 next season. Um he he signed a three-year $3.25 million. Was he overpaid? Yes. Um, once again, he sort of falls into that same category uh as Matt Dumba, but um he he was able to at least be available or at least gain the trust of the coaching staff to play him in the Stanley Cup playoffs for 14 games, but at the end of the day, he ended up being another healthy scratch like Dumba in the Western Conference final. Uh it’s just not not very uh not very uh uh I guess the the word would be uh not very rewarding uh to say the least. And um I give him a C++ for this past season. I give him a C+. I feel like it had to be uh better than than Dumba. Uh I I thought he had a really a decent season in a lot of ways. I I think I was a defender of Leouchkin um during during stretches of this past year, but when it came down to it, you weren’t able to utilize him. And I think that’s very telling of the front office and um is the reason why the stars this year, let’s just put it frankly, are unable to really do anything to retool the blue line because of their cap situation. Um, and this goes back to last year when I was obviously not very thrilled with the signings of Dumba and Labouchkin on July one and you you get comments, well, who cares? This adds the the physicality and it’s just, you know, 3, you know, whatever million dollars. It’s it’s not big. Well, it is because now the Stars have their hands tied and they now cannot get rid of these contracts. And both of these guys, Labushkin and Dumba, are two of the guys that Stars fans are asking for the Stars to try to get rid of so they can find some cap space and they’re unable to do that. So, uh, yeah, C++ for Ilia Leouchkin for the 2425 campaign. Now, let’s go to Cody Cece, who of course got paid again this past summer. Thankfully, not by the Dallas Stars, but uh really what a roller coaster for for Cody Cece. Played for a couple teams. Stars acquired him. Uh let’s uh go ahead and break down his 24-25 season in just a moment. things just uh continued to to get worse with with Cody Cece as the season wore along after the Stars acquired him on February 1st from the the San Jose Sharks. And probably the the worst decision now looking back at it by the Stars was pairing him up alongside Esa Lindell. and that pairing just got absolutely torched during the the Stanley Cup playoffs. But CC played a total of 85 games uh this past season between the Sharks and uh the Dallas Stars. 54 with the Sharks, 31 for the Stars, adding up to 85 games played. He had four goals. All four of those came with San Jose. uh nine assists um and uh nine points or pardon me. Uh he had uh 20 assists um for a uh a total of uh what was it 20? It would have been 24 points. Um he played in 18 playoff games. He had zero goals, three assist um and three points. I wrote here as a as a dash mark uh as a bullet point. Just not very good. I think that probably uh sums up what we we got from Cody Cece and and again for for what CC was. Um again, I think Jumbo Labouchkin and CeCe all fall in the the the same category. They were they were okay for for what they were. They just were not going to really add any sort of production towards winning for for the Dallas Stars in a lot of ways. Um, and that may feel harsh. It may sound harsh, but we just have to call it like it is Stars fans. These just three defenseman and CeCe can add on to it. Just really not great at all. And you go through all the just all the numbers at five on five all situations. Uh, CC is not good. Expected goals again 17.28. That was the worst of any other of any Dallas star um during the Stanley Cup playoffs. Um and and really Lindell and CC, I mean they’re like two P’s in a pod when you look at a lot of the um advanced numbers. The goals forward percentage uh Lindell um CC was was fourth worst uh 33 um percent. He’s with Duchain um and Ben who we all know really really struggled uh to find uh the back of the net. And when when you look at, you know, CC Lindell, um we’re kind of your shutdown pairing in in some ways. You were asking them to play against um outside of Harley Hen and maybe you’re asking them to play against top six talent is is what you’re asking them to play against. And they just got torched and CC uh is just the the modern-day defenseman that you just you cannot have um at at this point um in the NHL. uh just coughs up the puck a lot. He’s he’s not strong with the puck on his stick. His defensive rating was a minus 8.8. His expected goals against 80.75. Um that was like last in the NHL. I I mean like one of the worst expected goals against um in in the entire NHL. And we know what he’s not adding um to the team offensively. And again, he was playing over 20 minutes a night for the Dallas Stars. not good at all playing over 20 minutes a night in high lever situations and he paired him with Lindell which I think just exacerbated his issues his weaknesses and Eselins Dell’s and um it was just um left much uh left much to to be desired to to say the least. Um and and look um he at least was was there for the postseason. Um he was available. He played 18 games. um probably probably would have rather had Labouchkin over CeCe. Um but that’s that’s just a different conversation for a different day and it it wouldn’t have made a difference um in whether the Stars were were getting through the Western Conference final or not. But um yeah, just again this is just a category of you just have these guys to have these guys and they’re really not going to uh be successful or contribute to you winning hockey games and Alex Petravvic was a better better option than really these three guys. uh maybe outside of Lebushkin, but Dumb Cece, Petravic was a better and and Bishel was um to be frank as well. And uh I’ll be a lot more excited to talk about Bishel and Lungquist upcoming in our next uh uh episode of season grades, our final episode. Um because I I just think there’s a lot more positives with with those three. Um and and look, again, Cece had some had some moments throughout this season. I think the intro of today’s video, just moments, mistakes, and minutes. Um, you’re asking CC to play over 20 minutes a night, you’re probably just not going to be very successful um on the back end. And uh I think that really rang true this past season with the Dallas Stars. And I I gave him a D+. I gave him a bit more than Dumba just because at least he played in the postseason. Um but I I couldn’t give him a grade above Labouchkin. I didn’t think he was worthy of that after what we saw for the most part um this past season. And um we only got him for a couple months. So um he he’s gone now. Um and he he got paid, you know, $4.5 million um for or maybe it wasn’t four and a half, it was $3.2 million uh sorry uh by the uh uh by the Los Angeles uh Kings um if I’m not mistaken. So, the Kings have to to deal with um him now. Um Oh, no, sorry. Sorry. It was $4.5 million for the next four years for 31year-old Cody Cece. That actually is incredible. Um thankfully, uh Jim Nil and the Dallas Stars um did uh did not come to terms with that. So, there you go. Uh that is it for the penultimate episode of Season Grades here on Locked On Stars, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every single day. Want to thank you so much for making us a part of your day and making us your first listen. We’d love your feedback on today’s episode. Let me know your uh uh grades. Certainly the most harshest really. It’s um the only two players I’ve given failing grades to uh this uh past season with Dumba and Labouchkin. Um, and a failing grade for me was a D, you know, back when I was in school. We didn’t really have the letter grades. Um, it was like 70% or below was failing. Um, and maybe that wasn’t failing in other places, but 70% or below was kind of like failing. Uh, so a a D would would be a failing grade. Uh, maybe I should have gave Dumba F. Maybe it wasn’t harsh enough. I I’m sure uh some of you will have harsher grades uh than maybe even I had on today’s show. But uh that’s going to do it. I want to thank you for the love and support. As uh always going to have to make up for some of the episodes uh I I missed. We’re going to get some uh uh some guests on here in the next coming weeks. I know some news is going to start slowing down. So uh we’re not going to have a ton of things to talk about. We’re going to have to get creative, have some fun. Maybe if you have some video ideas, would love to to hear that as well. Ask for some of those. If you’re interested in me doing a topic or doing a certain segment on something, let me know in the comments below and we’ll see if we can uh get to some of those throughout the the summer as we enter the dog days. But that will do it for today’s episode. Want to thank you as always. Have a great rest of your Wednesday, Stars fans, and we’ll see you tomorrow. So long.

On today’s episode of Locked On Stars, Joey Erickson continues 2024-25 season grades with Dallas Stars D-Men. On today’s show we look at Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Cody Ceci who all fall in a similar category among Stars fans. These are some of the harshest grades Joey has handed out all season and he shares the stats and stories from each blue liner.

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