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Was the Scott Laughton trade a mistake for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Originally posted on 6IX ON ICE | By Imran Jessa | Last updated Apr 12, 2025 12:13 PM ET

On March 7, 2025, at the trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded forward Nikita Grebenkin and a 2027 first-round draft pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Scott Laughton, a 2025 fourth-round draft pick, and a 2027 sixth-round pick. The Flyers also retained half of Laughton’s $3M cap hit.

At the time, fans were pleased with the moves the Leafs made, addressing their need on defence by bringing in Brandon Carlo, and Laughton to fill the third-line centre role.

Other options

There were other names that the Leafs were potentially linked to, most notably being Brock Nelson, Yanni Gourde, and Brayden Schenn.

Yanni Gourde was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 5th in a three-team trade involving the Seattle Kraken and the Detroit Red Wings. The trade is fairly confusing, but ultimately, the Lightning received Yanni Gourde with 75% of his $5,166,667 retained and forward Oliver Bjorkstrand. To accomplish this, they gave up forward Michael Eyssimont, two conditional first-round picks in the 2026 and 2027 NHL Drafts, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fifth-round pick.

Brock Nelson was traded to the Colorado Avalanche by the New York Islanders on March 6th. The Islanders also gave up forward prospect William Dufour, but received defenceman Oliver Kylington, forward prospect Calum Ritchie, a conditional 2026 first-round draft pick, and a conditional 2028 third-round pick.

Brayden Schenn, the captain of the St. Louis Blues, was reportedly linked to the Leafs but ultimately blocked the trade, saying a few days after the deadline:

“It’s no secret where my name was, tossed around. Just people texting me literally daily. Part of the business. Obviously, a little tough to deal with. At the end of the day, I’ve always said, I love being a Blue. I love playing here.

I feel like we’ve got a good thing going on, and we’re going to make a push to the playoffs. I feel I couldn’t go out there and quit on my teammates. It’s important for us to keep on taking steps here, and we’re going to do everything we can to get in.”

The Leafs made the wrong choice?

Since the deadline, one of those four players definitely sticks out, and unfortunately for Toronto, it’s Scott Laughton. Below are the high-level stats for each player:

	Scott Laughton	Brock Nelson	Yanni Gourde	Brayden Schenn
Games Played	16	17	17	17
Goals	1	4	1	5
Assists	1	7	10	5
Points	2	11	11	10
Goals For %	23.53	64.29	60.87	64.52
Fenwick For %	35.55	57.31	53.08	51.09
Corsi For %	34.04	56.59	53.89	50.18
Expected Goals %	29.89	57.34	54.92	48.64

On that table, Scott Laughton is for sure the ugly duckling. He has seriously underperformed, especially compared to his numbers in Philadelphia. During this season until his trade, he had 11 goals, 16 assists for 27 points in 60 games played. He averaged a 35.79 GF%, a 45.68 FF%, a 43.27 CF%, and a 47.01 xG%. While not outstanding, it was markedly better than how he has fared in Toronto.

Laughton’s time as the third-line centre was short-lived, and he was demoted to the fourth line just ten days after arriving in Toronto. Since then, he has mostly remained there, currently centring Pontus Holmberg and Steven Lorentz.

So is the Scott Laughton experiment a failure? At this point, it’s clearly yes, but the question of whether the Leafs could have done better is a more interesting one.

Wasted assets?

Off the bat, it’s clear that paying a first-round draft pick and a decent prospect in Grebenkin for a fourth liner who has put up two points is a terrible return on investment. And comparing him to the other players of his ilk that moved at the deadline just rubs salt in the wound. However, how fair is that comparison?

Firstly, Brayden Schenn. It’s clear that he was the Leafs’ preferred option, which makes sense considering how fond of him Craig Berube clearly is. However, if the player, as is his right, refuses to be traded, there’s literally nothing the Leafs can do.

Brock Nelson has been a surprise for the Avalanche, outperforming his season GF% with the Islanders by 14% in Colorado. However, 50% of his $6M contract was retained, which still means he has twice the cap hit as Laughton. To achieve the same cap hit, the Leafs were going to have to part with even more than the Avalanche did, which I, and I bet many in the fan base, would consider a gross overpay. Additionally, he’s a pending UFA, where Laughton has an extra year on his contract.

That fact also likely influenced the Leafs when considering Yanni Gourde, who at 75% retention, has a slightly lower cap hit than Laughton. Additionally, the cost was also incredibly high, and the Leafs were not willing to part with their top-tier prospects (unless it was for someone like Mikko Rantanen).

At the time of the Laughton trade, most of the insiders and fans were both surprised and impressed with Treliving’s performance at the deadline. He managed to address, we thought, both of the glaring needs of the team while not completely giving away the future. With hindsight, though, I bet he wishes there was a 30-day return policy on hockey trades.

This article first appeared on 6IX ON ICE and was syndicated with permission.

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