Flyers NHL Trade Deadline Candidates: Scott Laughton
The Philadelphia Flyers have slipped in the Eastern Conference playoff race approaching the NHL Trade Deadline. Will the rebuilding organization choose to be sellers for the fifth season in a row?
Danny Briere and the Philadelphia front office will continue to work the phones leading up to the deadline on March 7 at 3pm Eastern time.
The Flyers will most likely pursue additional flexibility for future large-scale moves by making small-scale moves in March to shuffle veterans on the 2024-25 team who don’t have as much impact on the big picture of the rebuild. Which players will be on the move?
- Rasmus Ristolainen
- Scott Laughton
- Erik Johnson
- Andrei Kuzmenko
Scott Laughton
Not many people inside or outside the organization have a bad word to say about Scott Laughton. He commands respect for withstanding the ups and downs of his professional career since the Flyers selected him in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
Laughton has scored at a solid rate for a third-liner in a role alternating between wing and center for the majority of the past five seasons. His 82-game pace for 16 goals and 22 assists in 2024-25 when the Flyers hit the 4 Nations Face-Off break aligns relatively closely with his career norms.
He notched a team high eight shorthanded points in 2023-24 while Brad Shaw’s “power kill” led the league with 16 shorthanded goals. He leads Flyers forwards in shorthanded ice time in 2024-25, but the unit has slipped from fifth in the NHL in net penalty kill percentage last season down to 20th.
Laughton will never play on the top line for a Stanley Cup winner, and he might never eclipse his current career high of 43 points in a season. The Flyers instead value his intangible additions to the team as an alternate captain who stabilizes their organizational culture in the middle of a vulnerable rebuilding period.
He’ll enter the final season of his contract in 2025-26 at age 31 and an affordable $3 million salary. The greater share of his value isn’t tangible, especially as he’s passed the expected prime age of modern NHL players.
NHL Trade Deadline Value
Contending teams could prioritize and pursue Laughton’s grit and intensity entering a playoff run. Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet mentioned the Washington Capitals as a potential fit. The Toronto Maple Leafs also never seem to shy away from Ontario natives or former OHL stars.
The Flyers have passed on opportunities to move Laughton in the past despite the same factors making him a logical fit for a team with a more immediate timeline for contention.
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Briere, Keith Jones, and the front office consider Laughton part of the lifeblood of an organization they intend to revitalize as a major emphasis of their rebuild.
“He’s critical to our culture. But again, if there’s something that makes too much sense, it’s our duty to listen and to do the right thing for this organization and team moving forward. I’ve been very clear with all the players. I tell them all the same thing. I’m not trying to get rid of a Risto (Rasmus Ristolainen) or a Scott Laughton, but it’s our duty to listen and do the right thing for the organization.” -Danny Briere
Briere’s recent willingness to move Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost indicates a slightly decreased emphasis on culture. NHL insiders have also indicated a slightly more intense market for Laughton than past NHL Trade Deadline rumors have suggested.
Laughton also sent shockwaves through the world of social media with a prophetic Last Supper photo. The signs are there, and a deal looks exponentially more likely than it has through the repetitive trade rumors that have followed him for the last five seasons.
However, a franchise with an impressive quantity of stockpiled draft picks isn’t going to trade their alternate captain for a mid-round pick. The Flyers have passed up the opportunity to swap Laughton for draft compensation in the past, and they don’t have much added incentive to move him now.
For better or for worse, the Flyers believe his value on the roster exceeds any reasonable trade package that players with his offensive skill set will command.
They will only trade Scott Laughton if another team blows them out of the water. Even then, another NHL general manager might have to pry him from Briere’s cold, dead fingers.
Verdict: STAY
