Philadelphia Flyers: Scott Laughton wins Pelle Lindbergh Award
After fighting to find a spot on the Flyers, Scott Laughton has become a key part of the team.
The Pelle Lindbergh Award is given to the Flyers player who has shown the most improvement over the course of the season. It is the only team award that is voted on by the players themselves.
The award was dedicated to Lindbergh after the goaltender enjoyed a breakout third season in the NHL. He would win the Vezina Trophy and finish as a finalist for the Hart Trophy.
Lindbergh would unfortunately pass away at the young age of 26.
There were a few candidates that could have taken home the award this year. Travis Konecny took a huge jump forward this season. Travis Sanheim has developed into a reliable second pair defenseman.
However, Sanheim actually took home the award last season.
But there is another player that has been working hard for years and finally saw the payoff come this season. And that is Scott Laughton.
This was the first year of a two-year contract that Laughton previously signed last summer. And despite missing time due to injury, he proved that contract to be worth it.
Not only did he hit career highs in all scoring categories, he proved his value to the Flyers in plenty other ways. He spend time both at the center position and on the wing. Laughton even saw a brief promotion to the second line.
He made his role in the bottom-six where his tenacious play and willingness to go to the dirty areas proved key for the team. And he happened to be rewarded on the offensive zone as well.
His 13-goals broke a previous career-high while he was just five points away from tying his career high of 32 points. He was no doubt going to break that had the team played a full season.
It’s the second award Laughton has taken home. On Monday afternoon, he was awarded the Yanick Dupre Award. The award was given to him by the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Writers Association.
Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, and Michael Raffl are previous winners of the award.