Not sure where the love is coming from more \u2013 Scott Laughton to Los Angeles or Los Angeles to Scott Laughton?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an absolute whirlwind of a month for Laughton.<\/p>\n
Around the trade deadline, Laughton said his \u201cmind was spinning\u201d with the unknowns of what might happen at that time of the year. His deal was one of the latest to be approved around the deadline in the entire NHL, with formal confirmation not known, publicly at least, for a few hours after the deadline passed. <\/p>\n
The Kings officially acquired Laughton from the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 6 and after a late, cross-country flight, he was in the lineup at Crypto.com Arena on March 7, as the Kings hosted Montreal. One of the fortunate ones in situations like this not to deal with visa issues. The next day, he was on a plane back East to begin a five-game roadtrip with his new club, kicking off a stretch where eight of Laughton\u2019s first 11 games with the Kings came on the road.<\/p>\n
Finally, over a month after he first arrived in Los Angeles, he\u2019s had the chance to breath and learn what the inside of his house looks like. <\/p>\n
Having some time with family, on a seven-game homestand, has started to make Los Angeles feel like exactly that \u2013 home. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing at home with family has been pretty nice after a pretty hectic month,\u201d he said. \u201cI think just being away so much, we were on the road in Toronto before I got dealt, so it\u2019s really been nice to have that time to be able to settle in a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s certainly settling in at the right time.<\/p>\n
Currently on a season-defining, seven-game homestand for the Kings, Laughton has found the back of the net twice, including the second goal in Monday\u2019s critical 3-2 win over Nashville. His goal in the second period snapped a stretch of momentum for the Predators, helping the Kings to restore their lead and eventually work the game into overtime, ultimately winning via the shootout. On the ice, Laughton has been a good fit. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s got five goals and seven points in 16 games, playing a third-line role, offering stability at that position in the lineup. Among the 66 players around the NHL with at least 200 faceoffs taken since the date Laughton joined the Kings, he ranks second in the NHL at 60.1 percent. While Laughton doesn\u2019t play a ton of 3-on-3 hockey, the Kings seem to play it every night and Laughton has a role \u2013 the opening faceoff. He\u2019s won that a number of times to ensure his team begins with possession of the puck to start the overtime session. <\/p>\n
Individually, while the sample size is small, Laughton leads the Kings goals per\/60 and shots on goal per\/60 in 5-on-5 situations. His possession numbers have been solid as well. Laughton ranks as one of the team\u2019s best in terms of fewest high-danger chances against, per\/60, when he is on the ice. He\u2019s on the positive side of the ledger in most categories. He\u2019s been quite effective for the Kings, at an important time of the season when they\u2019ve needed him to be. <\/p>\n
All coming one month after the biggest change he\u2019s experienced yet in his NHL career. While it\u2019s been different, Laughton is embracing it, the opportunity he has here and the way the organization has immediately made him feel comfortable. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a big change, I haven\u2019t played on the West Coast [in my career],\u201d Laughton said today, speaking on TSN Radio, embedded below. \u201cIt\u2019s been a little different, but it\u2019s been amazing, honestly. The opportunity that I\u2019ve been given here, I know [D.J. Smith] from juniors and he\u2019s given me a pretty good leash and a pretty good runway here. The hockey aspect has been a ton of fun for me\u2026\u2026the way the organization treats you here has been pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The other side of it has been a group here in Los Angeles that is loving what Laughton brings to their room.<\/p>\n
Drew Doughty put it simply \u2013 \u201cI can\u2019t say enough good things about him and I\u2019m really happy to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anze Kopitar for example, has had as many teammates as just about anyone in the league. When asked about what Laughton has brought to the team, he highlighted both the player that he is on the ice, the role that he plays, as well as what he has brought within the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great teammate, first and foremost,\u201d Kopitar said. \u201cI think he\u2019s a perfect role player. We use him in just about with anything, great on faceoffs, huge part of our penalty kill and he\u2019s working his ass off. He\u2019s been a great addition to our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Kings Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith, Laughton was not a new face, just a new face to Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
As has been discussed, Smith was the head coach in Oshawa in the OHL when Laughton was the team\u2019s star player. At that time, Laughton was a first-round draft pick by Philadelphia and the team\u2019s leading scorer, with 40 goals in 54 games during his final season in that league. <\/p>\n
What Smith remembers about Laughton is that, despite his offensive accolades, you\u2019d never know it by the way he carried himself. He\u2019s always been the kind of teammate that others are drawn to, a popular player in the room, both based on his personality and the honest game he plays, on top of the scoring. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I had him in juniors, when he was the big dog, he didn\u2019t act like it and he\u2019s always looking out for his teammates,\u201d Smith said of Laughton. \u201cHe\u2019s been around the league for a long time and he doesn\u2019t take himself too seriously, he understands how to play the game, he plays the game hard. I think guys respect the way he plays and respect that he\u2019s a good teammate. Obviously, the intangibles in the dressing room, all those things are great, but don\u2019t look too far past how hard he plays on the ice that allows him to gain that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
So. Laughton has enjoyed his short time in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has certainly enjoyed having him here. <\/p>\n
Would he be open to extending his time here?<\/p>\n
Short answer is yes, he would. I just wouldn\u2019t necessarily expect that to come tomorrow. His focus right now is singular and that\u2019s helping the Kings get into the playoffs, with hopes of going on a run. He and his family have enjoyed their time here thus far and because of that and how the organization has treated them, he does have an interest in possibly extending with the Kings.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s a conversation for down the road. <\/p>\n
I\u2019d expect Laughton to have several suitors over the summer throughout the NHL. He does a lot of things that teams value and his play since joining the Kings certainly won\u2019t lower that number. However, his short time in Los Angeles has been meaningful enough to where the Kings will be strongly considered when that time comes, because of the experience he\u2019s had here since joining. <\/p>\n
That time coming just might not be today. He came here to try and help the 2025-26 LA Kings team achieve something and that\u2019s what he\u2019s focused on doing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t gotten to that, but yes, it would be, I think for sure,\u201d Laughton said of his openness to an extension in Los Angeles. \u201cBeing here in the short time that I have and how much my family has loved it, yeah, for sure, but that all takes care of itself after the year. The focus is making a playoff push and being a part of something. That\u2019s what I want to do, I want to help this team and wherever the chips fall, they will. I want to be a part of something here and help this team out this year.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not sure where the love is coming from more \u2013 Scott Laughton to Los Angeles or Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-572983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}