{"id":586427,"date":"2026-04-05T05:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/586427\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T05:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:12:08","slug":"thatd-be-awesome-why-maple-leafs-should-bring-back-scott-laughton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/586427\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018That\u2019d be awesome\u2019: Why Maple Leafs should bring back Scott Laughton"},"content":{"rendered":"

So much so, Scott Laughton<\/a>\u2019s ex-teammates met up with the newest King Friday night in Los Angeles to hang out for some laughs ahead of Saturday\u2019s 7-6 wild overtime comeback win for the Kings.<\/p>\n

We can only wonder if the topic of Laughton \u2014 a native of Oakville, Ont., who fulfilled a boyhood dream every time he pulled on a Leafs sweater \u2014 coming home and signing back<\/a>\u00a0with the franchise that rented him west last month popped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019d be awesome. We would welcome him back with open arms. I know there\u2019s a lot of guys in this locker room who feel the same way,\u201d beams Steven Lorentz<\/a>, Laughton\u2019s ex-linemate and fast friend. (Ah, who are we kidding? In Laughton\u2019s world, every breakaway is a slapshot opportunity, every opponent is a chirp target, and every teammate is a fast friend.)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou win with guys like Scott. He\u2019s a glue guy. He plays a game the right way. He plays hard. And he\u2019s definitely got the skill, offensively and defensively, to be out there in all situations. So, yeah, a lot of Laughton fans over here still. It\u2019s sad we had to get rid of him. But he\u2019s a free agent, so we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hey, the Maple Leafs have a cap-space surplus and centre-depth deficit after shedding Laughton and Nicolas Roy<\/a> for draft picks. And Laughton is always effusive when professing his belief in and love for the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have family close. And the staff, you get treated first class here. Original Six team. It\u2019s special every time you go on the ice,\u201d Laughton told us<\/a>, shortly before his March 6 trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get chills every time going out, thinking about this team you grew up watching. And I\u2019ve said this before, but I\u2019ve fallen in love with the guys here. We have a great group of guys who really care and want to be at their best.\u201d<\/p>\n

A month ago, Laughton\u2019s preference was to re-sign in Toronto.<\/p>\n

Once the Leafs fell out of the race, however, it only made sense to salvage some return for an expiring asset.<\/p>\n

The Kings bought low, sending a third-round draft choice to Toronto that upgrades to a second-rounder should Laughton\u2019s new squad \u2014 still swinging away in the pillow-fight Pacific \u2014make the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Laughton has meshed quickly with the Kings, as he did with the Leafs and Flyers before them. Under an old junior coach, fellow Oshawa Generals alum D.J. Smith, he has seen his ice time climb over 16 minutes while getting second-unit power-play reps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a third-line pivot, Laughton has already potted four goals. His offensive-zone deployment has doubled from what he received under Toronto\u2019s Craig Berube, who used Laughton mostly as a fourth-line penalty killer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has way more offence than people give him credit for,\u201d Smith told reporters this week. \u201cHe\u2019s made a play or two every night on the power play offensively. I think he\u2019s a really good player in our league.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laughton barely got a sniff alongside the Leafs\u2019 top playmakers, and the price former GM Brad Treliving paid to acquire him \u2014 a first-round pick, plus prospect Nikita Grebenkin \u2014 didn\u2019t jibe with his role.<\/p>\n

As any smart free agent, Laughton is open to making things work long-term in California, where opportunity is fuelling confidence \u2014 but isn\u2019t shutting the door on a Leafs reunion.<\/p>\n

The executive who traded him away is gone. The coach who stuffed him in the D-zone might be too<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could see it, for sure,\u201d Berube says. \u201cHe really liked it in Toronto. And he\u2019s from around there, too. So I think that was a bit of a dream for him to go back home and play. Yeah, I could see him going back there, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berube says the Maple Leafs miss Laughton\u2019s personality, energy, and consistency. The coach and the player first crossed paths in Philly. Berube chuckles about how he would \u201ckinda bust his balls a little bit every day,\u201d and the two locker-room presences would fire chirps back and forth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got such a great personality and love for the game and shows up every day with the same attitude,\u201d Berube says. \u201cPeople get attracted to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

People like Troy Stecher<\/a>, who was Laughton\u2019s teammate for less than four months.<\/p>\n

Stecher considers himself fortunate to have shared a room with such a \u201cunique<\/a>\u201d character. He noticed how Laughton would be the first to welcome a new Marlies callup to the room, how Laughton took rookie Easton Cowan<\/a> under his wing, and how the veteran would call out teammates\u2019 mistakes \u2014 not to kick them while they felt down but to help raise the entire group\u2019s standard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith him leaving, I think we\u2019ve lost a little bit of that vocalness in the room and accountability,\u201d Stecher says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s hard to replace. It\u2019s hard for guys to get out of their comfort shell. And it was so natural for him to speak up and be vocal. In a time of need, he was the guy that guys would kind of look towards. So, he\u2019s a great leader, a great hockey player, and we definitely miss him on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Auston Matthews<\/a> calls Laughton\u2019s impact on and off the ice \u201cincredibly valuable,\u201d stressing how he binds everyone together, be it through inside jokes or outward competitiveness.<\/p>\n

MLSE president Keith Pelley noted this week how he was dissatisfied with the team\u2019s culture and lack of draft capital. Losing Laughton may have helped with the latter, but it hurt the former.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Treliving\u2019s successor would be wise to explore the cost of a Laughton signing \u2014 or, at minimum, seek out new additions with similar traits.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys with just that charisma. Guys are drawn to him, right? He gets along with everyone right away. He treats everyone the same, whether you\u2019re a trainer, arena staff, or coach or a player,\u201d Lorentz says. \u201cHe always seems to be in a good mood, and he\u2019s always willing to joke around. And little things like that just go a long way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just one of those guys, wherever he ends up, in a positive way, he\u2019s doing something to change the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs organization sure could use some change, in a positive way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s weird,\u201d Lorentz adds. \u201cHe was here for a year, but it felt like it was a lot longer, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hmmm\u2026 maybe it will be.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Since Matthews went down, John Tavares<\/a> has responded with eight goals and 16 points in 12 games. He registered his eighth 30-goal campaign Saturday. Even at 35, you won\u2019t find better value at 2C.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust never stops doing the same things every night,\u201d Berube says. \u201cWhen he suits up and goes out there, I know what I\u2019m going to get from him. His work ethic and competitiveness are there all the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe may not have his legs one night or different things, but I know he\u2019s going to give us the effort and the compete and doing the right things, night in and night out. He\u2019s been excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tavares waited a while to leave the ice after the loss because he and the Leafs wanted to shake Anze Kopitar<\/a>\u2019s hand. The Kings legend asked they do so off the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talk about a gentleman in the way he carries himself,\u201d Tavares says. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten to know him a little bit at different events. Always was an honour to play against him and always a battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s amazing about this league, is playing against the world\u2019s best \u2014 and he\u2019s been one of those for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Here is a thoughtful Troy Stecher on the firing of Brad Treliving:<\/p>\n

\u201cI messaged him afterward and think a lot of guys did. At the end of the day, the fault comes down onto the players. We\u2019re the ones that go out there and perform. So, the most upset people \u2014 I mean, besides Tree \u2014 would be the guys in the room. We feel like we let the organization down. And we have.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it sucks where we are as a group. Me, personally, I\u2019m very thankful to Brad. This was the second time he brought me in. He traded for me in Calgary when I was with Arizona. I\u2019ve been a guy that\u2019s had to fight and claw my whole career to stay in this league and prove that I belong in this league. And he was one of my believers. I can\u2019t have more respect than I do for Brad. He\u2019s given me a really good chance, and my family a really good opportunity to play hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Maple Leafs got doubled up on the shot clock in L.A. (40-20) and have been outshot something silly this season: 2,501-2,055.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No team has surrendered as many shots as Toronto, and only four teams that have played as many games as the Leafs have fewer shots: the Flyers, Stars, Rangers, and Blackhawks.<\/p>\n

Why have shots been difficult to generate?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t look to shoot enough,\u201d Berube says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of times where it\u2019s just a simple shot. It\u2019s not our first instinct. Even from the back end, when we get pucks, we could move our feet quicker and get them through. I think it\u2019s a mindset more than anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re right there, and we\u2019re trying to pass it in the net. We got to try to get that out of our system. We got to put more pucks at the net.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 William Villeneuve<\/a> was summoned on emergency recall due to Oliver Ekman-Larsson\u2019s lower-body injury but did not play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The steady 24-year-old Marlies defenceman was drafted back in 2020 and is still looking for his first taste of NHL action.<\/p>\n

Give him one \u2014 as a reward and to see what you got.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So much so, Scott Laughton\u2019s ex-teammates met up with the newest King Friday night in Los Angeles to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-586427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}