The Philadelphia Flyers did it. After years and years of rumors and rumblings, the Flyers traded longtime veteran forward Scott Laughton as this team continues down the rebuilding path.
According to multiple reports, the Flyers are sending Scott Laughton to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Full details of the trade have not been confirmed.
Since being drafted 20th overall at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the 30-year-old forward has played 660 games for the Flyers, scoring 106 goals and 265 total points over the span of 12 years
Moving on from Laughton was certainly no easy task. For multiple years now, we all know that he has been the heartbeat of this team on and off the ice — a mentor for the younger players that have come into the Flyers’ locker room and has played an integral role in developing a welcoming community in this fan base.
But the Flyers making this move and in the middle of this season is another strong signifier that they are dedicated to this rebuilding process. It might not be the traditional teardown rebuild — or else Laughton (along with other players) would have been traded over a year ago — but it is eyeing a certain window of contention and this is a move that more than helps establish that.
Stick with Broad Street Hockey through the trade deadline. More to come on this story.
UPDATE
Through several reports, the full deal looks like Scott Laughton, a fourth-round pick, and a seventh-round pick getting sent to Toronto, in exchange for the Leafs’ 2027 first-round pick and young Russian winger Nikita Grebenkin. The first-round pick is top-10 protected.
Laughton to Toronto makes perfect sense. The Oakville, Ont. native is not only heading to his hometown team, but he is joining a Maple Leafs squad that desperately needs a foundation in their bottom-six forward group. Instead of trotting out a combination of one-sided Max Domi, Pontus Holmberg, and David Kampf, Laughton now gets deployed in key situations when the stars of Toronto are not on the ice.
Coming to Philadelphia is the first-round pick that general manager Danny Briere has coveted all along. Now, it is not an immediate first-rounder. Two entire draft classes will go by before we can start thinking about this selection, and both teams could look wildly different, but it is some form of currency the Flyers could potentially use when they want to compete more. Or, it is another young player further (much further) down the road. And there is almost no way with Auston Matthews and William Nylander locked up, that we have to worry about the top-10 protection going into effect.
Nikita Grebenkin is an interesting prospect. The 21-year-old Russian winger is in his first season in North America and through 39 games with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, he has scored nine goals and 21 points. A surge of offense has already earned him a stint in the NHL, having played seven games up with the Leafs, where he did not earn a point while averaging fewer than nine minutes a game.
Still, there is immense skill in there. The 6-foot-2 winger has size and speed on his side and just last season, at 20 years old he scored 41 points in 67 games in the KHL. Only Minnesota Wild prospect Danila Yurov and some guy named Matvei Michkov scored more points among all players under 21 years old in that league last year. Safe to say, he’s definitely something and not just a throw in prospect.
More to come on Broad Street Hockey about this deal.
