Philadelphia Flyers mustn't give up on Scott Laughton

Scott Laughton‘s sophomore campaign wasn’t one he’ll wish to remember. But the Philadelphia Flyers would be foolish to judge him based on one season.

In his first full NHL season, Scott Laughton failed to impress the Philadelphia Flyers or their fans. He showed flashes of skill yet nothing consistent.

But a lackluster sophomore campaign is no reason to give up on the kid. With one more year left on his entry-level deal, it’ll be intriguing to see how the Oakville, Ontario native responds with his career as a Flyer possibly on the line.

This year was always going to be a headache for Laughton. He was thrust into a role he wasn’t quite ready for as evidenced by his prior Corsi.

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Last season, Laughton produced a -3.6 Corsi For percentage on a balanced offensive to defensive zone start ratio.

This year, Laughton saw more shifts on the attack, but his Relative Corsi fell to -5.4. Not the kind of numbers coaches want to see especially from a third line center.

Not all of that is on Laughton though. He wasn’t given particularly strong wingers. Something that is needed for a young player to adapt to a defensive role.

The obvious and most recent bar set was by Sean Couturier whose rookie defensive efforts were all the more amazing considering he was an 18-year-old fresh out of juniors.

But, think back to the 2011-12 season. The Flyers had much better depth at forward back then. Meaning, Couturier played on a fourth line with more defensively responsible players who’d help him in that task and could aid in producing some offense as well.

It didn’t hurt that one of those players was veteran Max Talbot, who had a career year in 2011-12. Yes, Couturier and Talbot had a weak link otheir line with Zac Rinaldo but Couturier also saw time with Matt Read, who also had his best season as a pro in 2011-12.

Couple that with Couturier’s already great defensive instincts and the Flyers got one heck of a fourth line that could contain top players and put points on the board.

That was something Laughton was going to have a lot of trouble doing this season. He was given a stabilizing forward in Read. But, by no means did the veteran have the season Talbot produced four years ago.

After Read, Laughton’s supporting wingers dipped tremendously in skill. Who were those players?

R.J. Umberger and Ryan White. Possibly the team’s two worst analytical wingers.

Yet, Laughton found chemistry not only with Read, but with Nick Cousins and Michael Raffl. Unfortunately, his time with Raffl didn’t last long (86 minutes) and Cousins’ presence gave head coach Dave Hakstol reason to bench Laughton.

It shouldn’t be surprising that when a young center is thrust into a third line role and plays with decent support like Read and Raffl, he does better than when he has to play with someone like Umberger whose advanced stats notoriously indicate a dragging down effect.

It’s no wonder that Laughton had a headache of a sophomore season, his best support was in the middle of his worst season, production-wise, as a pro and the two wingers he played with the most after that are weak possession players.

Laughton was dealt a losing hand from the get go.

Hopefully, come next season, he’ll see more time with players he’s developed a rapport with like Cousins and Raffl. Then maybe the Flyers and their fans can see what the kid can do and get a third line that can give the Flyers some scoring depth.

Next: What to do with Jordan Weal

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