Scott Laughton says being traded to the Maple Leafs is ‘surreal’

The Toronto Maple Leafs have made their first trade deadline move, acquiring forward Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.

According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Leafs are also acquiring a fourth and sixth-round pick along with Laughton at 50% retained in exchange for Nikita Grebenkin and a 2026 conditional first-round pick, which is is top-10 protected. The salary retention brings his cap hit down to $1.5 million for this season and next, giving GM Brad Treliving some flexibility to make more moves if needed before the 3 p.m. deadline.

Laughton made an appearance on TSN’s Tradecentre shortly after the initial reports were shared that he was heading to the Maple Leafs and he expressed his enthusiasm about the opportunity of playing with his hometown team.

“It’s pretty surreal. I think I found out 10 minutes ago, so just kind of letting it all sink and kind of figuring out my way here,” he said. “But, I’m excited for a chance at the playoffs. It’s been a while here in Philly but I’m extremely grateful to the Flyers and I’m excited for the opportunity.”

Through 60 games before the trade to Toronto, Laughton has recorded 27 points (11 goals and 16 assists), 129 hits, 33 blocks, and a 49.6 FO%. He is capable of producing around 35 points in a season but his main calling card is his two-way play and shutdown abilities which should help improve the third line that has lacked a proper centre all season long.

The Leafs were considered to be one of the frontrunners for Laughton for the past few weeks, with reports suggesting that he would love the opportunity to play for his childhood team if a trade were to materialize which it finally has. Now that the saga is finally behind him, he is excited to focus solely on playing for a contending team in pursuit of a Stanley Cup.

“I’ve been in the rumours quite a bit over the last couple of years, this year felt a little bit different,” Laughton said on being in trade rumours. “It’s hard to keep your mind on the games and everything like that, you have a young family and you’re worried about them, but being able to come home and being a Leafs fan growing up, it’s really cool.”

He added that he had yet to speak with his mom and his wife about the trade at the time of the interview, with lots of moving parts needed to be sorted out in regards to making the move to Toronto.

The Oakville native had a feeling his time in Philadelphia was coming to an end as was evidenced by him sharing a post of him and his Flyers teammates during a recent trip to Winnipeg recreating ‘The Last Supper.’ He admitted that the viral photo was his way of making light of an uncertain future while sharing a bonding moment with the rest of the locker room.

“Yeah, I was taking the trainers out, every year I take them out for dinner,” he said on how the photo came to be. “Happened to be our last road trip before the deadline and EJ and TK tagged along and it came together pretty quick, within a couple minutes and the lighting seemed to be perfect and yeah. Just to poke a little fun at it, I think everyone is thinking it, so just to put it out there is pretty funny”