INSIDER: Scott Laughton Talks Whirlwind 24 Hours After Deadline Deal To Los Angeles

Quite the 24 hours it was for Scott Laughton. 

As a pending unrestricted free agent on a team out of contention, Laughton understood what was likely coming his way. Certainly wasn’t surprising, after he had been held out of the lineup in Toronto for two games in a row due to “roster management” reasons. 

Still, as the hours, minutes and seconds ticked down, he had not been traded. Finally, at 4:30 PM Eastern, well after the deadline formally concluded, things became official. Laughton was headed to Los Angeles to join the Kings for the final six weeks of the regular season.

His goal was to get on a plane just a couple of hours later, scheduled to depart around 7 PM. Naturally, when you’re in a rush, things always seem to work against you. Just like the paperwork on his trade, his flight out West was delayed. He landed in Los Angeles late on Friday night, before a Saturday afternoon game against Montreal. Was never really a question, though. He was going to play the next day, for the team that went out and brought him back into a playoff race. 

“It was pretty crazy, getting downtown [in Toronto], getting my gear and back to the airport, but that’s what happens in our business, guys go through it all the time,” Laughton said. “I’m happy to be here and I’m happy to be with this group and try and make a push.”

For Laughton, he moves West for the first time in his NHL career. He was a first-round draft pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012 and has spent his entire career to date in the Eastern Conference with the Flyers and Maple Leafs, logging more than 700 career NHL games with those two organizations. 

That’s not to say he’s walking into completely unfamiliar circumstances, however. 

Laughton has one very familiar face and that’s Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith. When Laughton was coming up through the OHL with Oshawa, he played two seasons under Smith’s direction with the Generals. Laughton scored at over a point-per-game pace in both campaigns under Smith in Oshawa, including 87 points in his final season of junior hockey in 2013-14. The pair reunited at the 2023 IIHF World Championships, as Laughton scored the final goal in a 5-2 victory over Germany in the gold-medal game, with Smith behind the bench. Lots of good memories for Laughton, who will now play under Smith for the first time in the NHL. 

“I’m very excited, I think he did a lot for my career early on, I played for him at Worlds a couple years ago, so the relationship’s been there for about 15 years,” Laughton said of reuniting with Smith in Los Angeles. “He did a lot for me as a junior player, I think he's a great coach. He gets a lot out of you. He's very vocal and knows the game and cares about his players, so I'm super excited to play for him.”

The feeling was mutual.

Smith naturally coached Laughton on his path to becoming a first-round draft pick and coached against him numerous times when he was behind the bench in Ottawa and Toronto. Laughton is a guy who is lauded for a lot of the “hockey guy” things he does. But Smith knows first hand that there’s a lot more to him. A player who should help the team in a number of ways, including his play with the puck on his stick. 

“He’s a heart and soul guy,” Smith said of Laughton. “He got to the NHL real early and I think he’s got a little more offensive touch than some people have given him credit for. Really competitive, faceoff guy, but I think he can also make some plays for us too.”

Look no further than Game 1.

The Kings saw a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 deficit in the second period on Saturday against Montreal. After conceding the second goal late in the middle stanza, Laughton’s line hit the ice for their final shift of the period. Rookie winger Jared Wright got in hard on the forecheck, winning the race to a puck below the goal line, before he made a backhanded feed to Laughton. Sensing the situation, Laughton spun onto his forehand and put his shot in the perfect spot, along the ice, to slip the puck underneath the pads and in.

It was a heads-up play, executed quickly, in a tight space. The result was a goal for Laughton in his first game with the Kings. In doing so, he became the first player acquired via trade, with NHL experience, to score goal in his first game with the Kings. 

“He played hard, checked, he’s going to be a really good player for this team,” Smith said after Laughton’s first game. “He’s just going to get more and more comfortable, but I think you saw him make some plays, he threw one in and scored the goal. That line was really fast too, Turc and Wright, they can really skate, I thought they were really good.”

Hopping in with Turcotte and Wright is certainly an easy way to quickly get up to speed.

Turcotte is a quick and twitchy player who has a good burst and likes to skate with the puck. Wright’s speed has jumped off the page during his first three games in the NHL. Was never more noticeable than on Laughton’s goal, to see his burst around an unsuspecting defenseman. Won’t be unsuspecting for too much longer, if he continues to make plays like that. 

It's a line I think we could see potentially continue, as the Kings continue to look for solutions on that third forward unit. Feels like the first, second and fourth lines are pretty stable as of now. It's the third line that has a few different parts, but hasn't had a clear direction due to a number of factors. Now they could, as the Kings hit the road, in need of consistency. 

Think that would suit Laughton just fine.

“Really fast guys, I think they made it easy on me,” Laughton said of his linemates. “I got kicked out of a couple draws, Turc comes in and wins them and plays low. They made it easy on me. We were talking a lot on the bench, it was a lot of fun. It was easy to play with those guys, pretty simple and straight ahead and that’s the way I play.”

As we move forward, though, Laughton understands he was brought here for a reason.

To win games, not just to compete in them.

12 months ago, Laughton was perhaps the most highly sought after player available for contenders at the trade deadline. He was a high-caliber player in Philadelphia, in the middle of his fourth consecutive season with at least 30 points, alongside so many traits that contending teams wanted. He landed in Toronto and helped the Maple Leafs reach Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs, their furthest playoff run since 2002. 

The Kings are not in the position Toronto was, a lock to get in and a current threat to go deep. But they are within striking distance, with Laughton here to help the group get over the line in these final 20 games. 

“It was a lot of fun [on Saturday], but you want to get the win, especially at this time of the year, so that’s tough,” Laughton added. “I thought the energy was there, we played with the puck, had a ton of shots, sometimes it doesn’t go your way. You continue to play like that down the stretch, you’re going to pick up some points. I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to be with this group to try and make a push. Once you get in, you never know.”

Laughton and the Kings continue on that push this coming week, beginning with a back-to-back against Columbus and Boston to begin a five-game trip.