The Toronto Maple Leafs were aggressive at the deadline in acquiring Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo.
Toronto gave up two of its top prospects and two first-round picks to make the moves. However, Laughton struggled to fit in as he was on the Maple Leafs’ fourth line throughout the playoffs.
Now, heading into the offseason, NHL insider Jonas Siegel of The Athletic named Laughton a trade candidate.
“He fetched a first-round pick at the deadline, he still has another year left on his contract, with a cap number of $1.5 million,” Siegel wrote about Laughton, listing him as a trade candidate. “He also recently turned 31 and is coming off an uneven playoffs for the Leafs.”
The Maple Leafs trading Laughton would be a surprise, given how much Toronto gave up for him. However, if he is going to be a fourth-line player again, the Maple Leafs may look to move him and get at least some assets back.
Toronto traded Nikita Grebenkin and a conditional first-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft to the Philadelphia Flyers for Laughton, and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a sixth-round pick in 2027. However, Philadelphia also retained 50 percent of Laughton’s remaining salary.
With Toronto, Laughton skated in 20 regular-season games, recording 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points. In the playoffs, he recorded 0 goals and 2 assists in 13 playoff games.
Maple Leafs Coach Praises Laughton
Despite Laughton not producing much offense for the Maple Leafs, Toronto’s coach, Craig Berube, was impressed with him.
Berube knows that being traded at the deadline is never easy for players, as it takes a while to get accustomed to a new team. However, he believes Laughton fits in with the group well.
“It took him a bit to get comfortable with the situation,” Berube said on the Nasty Knuckles Podcast. “That is always normal with trades for a lot of players. So once he got comfortable, then he got some chemistry with some players, and then got his role down a bit, he was really good for us…
“Laughts is a good guy in the locker room and a character guy,” Berube added. “That checking line, the gamesmanship he plays with, penalty killing and stuff like that. So I thought they were really good for us. He was really good for us and I thought they did a good job.”
Laughton does play an effective role as he adds some physicality to the bottom of the lineup. But the Maple Leafs are no doubt hoping he can add more offense with Toronto next season.
Maple Leafs Could Have Active & Bold Offseason
Toronto was eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Florida Panthers.
After another early playoff exit, the Maple Leafs turned their attention to the offseason. Toronto has Mitch Marner and John Tavares as pending free agents, and could also be active in the trade front as Maple Leafs’ general manager, Brad Treliving, said the team needs a DNA change.
“There’s some DNA that has to change in our team,” Treliving said. “If you keep getting to the same result — and that’s not to dismiss a lot of the good that happened up to it. When you keep getting the same result, there’s some DNA that needs to change.”
The Maple Leafs enter the offseason with just over $25.7 million in cap space.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Insider Names Maple Leafs’ Deadline Acquisition as Trade Candidate appeared first on Heavy Sports.