Pagnotta: Maple Leafs took Scott Laughton trade down to the wire

The Toronto Maple Leafs reportedly took the trade to send Scott Laughton to the Los Angeles Kings down to the buzzer on the day of the trade deadline, according to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.

“ They moved out Nicolas Roy, Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton. Maybe got a little less overall than they anticipated under the circumstances,” he said during an appearance on DFO Rundown on Wednesday. “The Laughton trade, that went way too long. It was right at the wire before they got that in, and that’s why it ended up being just a third-round pick that could go to a second if they make the playoffs.”

The consensus among Leafs fans after the deadline was that they were disappointed with the lack of meaningful work done by GM Brad Treliving, particularly with how little he got back for Laughton after giving up a first and Nikita Grebenkin to get him a year prior. There were reports that the Leafs at this year’s deadline were difficult to deal with because of their indecisiveness, so that could help explain why the returns were so small.

On top of the little business that got done, many things were discussed but never materialized for the Leafs. Pagnotta reported that he was given the impression the day before the deadline that Oliver Ekman-Larsson was going to be traded, yet it didn’t happen due in part to the Leafs not getting their asking price met.

“Beyond [Ekman-Larsson], they tried with a number of their guys,” Pagnotta said. “Morgan Rielly’s name popped up throughout the week.  We know Matthew Knies’ name did. I had a text message on Tuesday morning about Knies and just a curious, ‘Are you hearing stuff? Cause we are.’  Then I got a text message later on that night about it being like, ‘Yeah, there’s something there.'”

Pagnotta later added that he didn’t put much stock in the notion that the Leafs would consider moving Knies because the only way it would gain any traction was if they had a serious buyer who would present them with an offer they can’t refuse. He compared it to what the St. Louis Blues tried to do with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, both of whom gained traction in trade rumours but nothing ever came close to fruition. When asked what it would have taken for the Leafs to contemplate moving off Knies, Pagnotta stated that it would have been at least three first-round calibre assets that they could immediately insert into the lineup.

In addition to dangling Knies and Rielly, Pagnotta reported that the Leafs listened in on several other players who had term left on their contracts.

“The two names that I heard started to fizzle towards the deadline in terms of ones that were really out there were Simon Benoit, who has another year in his contract, and Steven Lorentz, who was generating interest. Sounded like both of those guys were going into deadline day there, it just kind of died down on those fronts,” he said. “The Leafs tried to move Maccelli, Domi was out there, Carlo was out there, McCabe.  They’re willing to listen in on guys.”

With the dust settled on the trade deadline, the Leafs have to turn their attention to finishing out the season and then taking care of major decisions with the overall direction of the team. There is no doubt that there will be some significant changes in the months ahead, but what isn’t known is how exactly that will unfold and who will be in charge of setting the course.

Pagnotta made it clear that the future remains murky for the likes of Treliving and head coach Craig Berube.

“There’s questions about the coaching staff, and I think they’re leaning towards a change. We’ll see what happens once the season ends,” he said. “ Now I was told by multiple people that Treliving is staying and they’re gonna give him an opportunity to kind of fix this. The leash is shortened and fix this.  I had some pushback on that last night unsolicited, I don’t know where.  So we’ll see kind of where that’s going.”

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