With the Toronto Maple Leafs not holding a playoff spot ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline, they chose to be sellers. This was not difficult to understand, as the Original Six club has been trending in the wrong direction for a while. They are currently at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings and have lost each of their last seven games.
The Maple Leafs ended up trading multiple of their players during trade deadline week. Among them was center Scott Laughton, as the Maple Leafs dealt him to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional 2026 third-round pick. It will change to a second-round pick if the Kings end up making the playoffs this season.
When noting that the Maple Leafs had to give up a first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin to land Laughton just last season, there is no question that the return Toronto got for him at the deadline is underwhelming. However, Laughton also had a quiet year offensively with Toronto before being traded to Los Angeles, as he had eight goals and 12 points in 43 games with the Original Six club.
While Laughton struggled offensively with the Maple Leafs this season, he has been off to an excellent start to his Kings tenure.
Scott Laughton Thriving With Kings After Being Traded by Maple Leafs
Since being traded by the Maple Leafs to the Kings, Laughton has appeared in two games for the Pacific Division club. It is fair to say that the 2012 first-round pick has left a strong first impression, as he has been making a big impact early on.
In his Kings debut against the Montreal Canadiens, Laughton scored a goal to tie the game up at 2-2 during the second period. It was a very nice goal, too, as Laughton spun with the puck before beating Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes with a wrist shot.
Laughton followed up his strong Kings debut with another good performance against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. The veteran forward scored the game-opening goal and also recorded an assist on Brian Dumoulin’s third-period goal to give LA a 4-3 lead.
With this, Laughton now has two goals, an assist, and a plus-2 rating in his first two games with the Kings. He has also thrown five hits since being traded to the Kings, so he has been giving Los Angeles more grit as well.
Maple Leafs Had No Choice But to Trade Laughton
While the Maple Leafs did not get a lot for Laughton, they had no choice but to trade him ahead of the deadline. With Laughton being a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) and the Maple Leafs being unlikely to make the playoffs, they needed to move him. There was no reason for them to keep him and run the risk of losing him for nothing during the summer through free agency.
As a result of this, Laughton has now gotten a fresh start with the Kings, and he is taking advantage of it early on. It will be interesting to see if he can stay hot with the Kings from here. He has shown in the past that he can be an impactful offensive contributor, as he had 43 points back in 2022-23 with the Flyers.
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