The Kings have acquired center Scott Laughton from the Maple Leafs in exchange for a third-round pick, John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor reports. The selection will upgrade to a second-round choice if L.A. comes from behind to make the playoffs, per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. The draft pick will be in 2026, whether it’s in the second or third round, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
Los Angeles, still only three points out of a playoff spot, has toed the line between selling and buying over the last 24 hours. They’ve made two moves of each, trading away Warren Foegele and Corey Perry while signing Mathieu Joseph and now acquiring Laughton, a pending UFA who will cost $1.5MM down the stretch. In doing so, they’ve sent away a third-rounder but netted a second-rounder each for Foegele and Perry while upgrading 2026 third-rounders in a pick swap with Ottawa in the Foegele deal.
After giving up a first-rounder and forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin to land Laughton from the Flyers with 50% retention at last year’s deadline, the Leafs turn around and sell him at a loss here. With Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and a combo of Max Domi and Nicolas Roy ahead of him on the depth chart at center, he never held anything more than a fourth-line role for the Leafs. After getting top-nine minutes for a stretch in Philadelphia, he didn’t put up the kind of offensive production Toronto hoped for. He ends his tenure in the GTA with a 10-6–16 scoring line in 63 games with a -3 rating.
The Kings, in need of centers now and for next season, likely saw value in trying to land Laughton now – both to aid with their outside chance at the playoffs and to give them extra time to work out an extension if they were set to pursue him in free agency this summer anyway. A well-regarded defensive piece, he does excel in the faceoff dot, winning 56.7% of them this season. He didn’t fare so well in the possession department in heavy defensive deployment for the Leafs, though, only controlling 40.5% of shot attempts and 39.9% of expected goals at 5-on-5. Those should improve if he’s not stressed so heavily in D-zone starts in L.A.
Laughton could factor in as the Kings’ third-line center to start while Quinton Byfield works his way back from an upper-body injury. They’re currently running 23-year-old rookie Kenny Connors, with all of two games of NHL experience under his belt, in the 3C slot ahead of Samuel Helenius. With top-line fixture Anže Kopitar in the final few weeks of his NHL career, the Kings were anticipated to get stretched thin down the middle next season anyway, so they’ll likely hope to reach a deal with Laughton to fortify their bottom-six depth for the next couple of years.
Laughton only netting a third after what the Leafs paid is a loss for BT. they did have to move him so getting something is better than nothing, but giving up a 1+prospect for a 3 shows why BT should be gone after the season.
@money. Leafs GM is a joke. We went from Dubas to another horrible GM. And wow, I agree with your comment….
If no playoffs: 3rd rounder acquired from Ottawa conditional on OTT/WSH making the playoffs
If playoffs: CBJ 2nd
hey laughton!
The only GM willing to give a first for Laughton was the guy selling him.
So a 3rd round pick
That’s a terrible return and I feel for Laughton as well
8 goals and 56.7% in the Dot, already better than Danault!
Thought the Kings were going to do something big today, but they didn’t.