It’s been a long time coming.
After years of speculation and chatter, the Flyers on Friday and finally traded Scott Laughton.
The veteran forward, a 2025 fourth-round pick, and a 2027 sixth-rounder have been traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin and a top-10 protected first-round pick in 2027. The Flyers are retaining 50% of Laughton’s salary, which is $3 million a year through next season.
“Trading Scott Laughton was one of the most difficult things I probably ever had to do as a GM,” said general manager Danny Brière during his post-NHL trade deadline press conference. “What he means to the Flyers … it was tough to let him go, [but] the return was amazing.”
The return is Grebenkin, a prospect the GM said the team was high on. Selected in the fifth round by the Maple Leafs in 2022, he played seven games for Toronto earlier this season but did not notch a point. A 6-foot-2, 210-pound winger, he has spent the majority of the season with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 39 games.
A big personality, Grebenkin has gone viral a few times, notably when he said the team has taught him “backcheck, forecheck, and paycheck.” According to a scouting report on Elite Prospects, he is “an intense, physical winger with a direct game” who has broken out this season, his first in North America.
“He seems very energetic, big body that is strong on the puck and can make plays,” said Brière, who has only seen a few shifts of the winger. “What I was told is that he needs to work within a structure, needs to learn to work within a structure. But there’s a lot there. The size, the energy, the competitiveness is what I was told is high end.”
The 21-year-old is a native of Russia and has one more year on his contract at a cap hit of $875,000, according to Puckpedia. The Flyers announced that he will be reassigned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.
On the flip side, the move sends the long-tenured Flyer north of the border.
“Emotional from both sides. Me, personally, I played with Scott. He was a teammate when he started in the league. So yeah, it was emotional,” said Brière, who was teammates with Laughton in 2012-13. “For him probably even more, leaving everything he knows behind, as far as the NHL, the only team he’s ever played for. This is his family. So it was definitely tough.
“I think that he had a lot of different emotions all at once. You could tell there’s one side that, you’re losing something, and on the flip side, the opportunity is exciting for him.”
Aside from joining a Maple Leafs that has all but locked up a Stanley Cup playoff spot, the trade sends Laughton home. The forward is a native of Oakville, Ontario, about 23 miles south of Scotiabank Arena.
A homegrown talent, Laughton was selected 20th overall by the Flyers in 2012. He was the last remaining member of the draft class with goalie Anthony Stolarz, who was taken in the second round, and third-round defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere long gone.
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He had a long and winding career with the Flyers, which started with five games during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. After a final season with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, he split 2014-15 with Lehigh Valley and the Flyers before spending 2015-16 in the NHL with 21 points in 71 games. In 2016-17 he was in the AHL for the majority of the season — he played just two games with the Flyers — as questions swirled about what he could bring to the lineup.
As a 23-year-old in 2017-18, Laughton played 81 games with the Flyers, collected 20 points, and never looked back. Laughton finishes his Flyers career as a reliable two-way center with an edge, having skated in 661 games, the 14th-most in Flyers history, and notching 265 points (106 goals, 159 assists), including 39 on special teams.
He had become an invaluable member and leader inside the Flyers locker room. Laughton, who did not practice on Friday before he was traded, has been an alternate captain since the 2022-23 season when he was the only player wearing a letter. He was the only player last year sporting an “A” until Sean Couturier was named captain and Travis Konecny was given an “A” in February.
“He’s honestly been our glue guy for a number of years now,” Couturier said Friday before the trade was confirmed by The Inquirer. “He’s just a great locker room guy on and off the ice, always shows up to games [and] gives his heart and soul for the team.”