Scott Laughton’s Time to Shine is Now
By Scott Cole
It’s no secret. The Flyers could be in a lot of trouble to start this season. Sean Couturier is out for a while, if not the whole year. Ryan Ellis is still injured and has no real timetable to return. Joel Farabee continues to recover and could be back sooner than expected.
With all of these issues, someone needs to step up. While some of it is that some players just need to perform better, some of it is some of the younger guys need to take the proper steps forward that we are waiting on. One player who can immediately contribute and try to hold down the fort, as it were, is Scott Laughton.
Laughton makes a very team-friendly $3 million per season. He’s not a major goal-scoring threat, scoring routinely around 10-12 goals a year (career-high 13 in 2019-20). His 30-point effort last season is the second highest of his career. He’s good for about 15-16 minutes of ice time a game. He rarely is put in the penalty box, and this helps the Flyers out since their penalty kill is horrific.
He was the 20th overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. While there were a few decent defenders who got drafted after him, Brady Skjei for one, there haven’t been a whole lot of forwards who have done better in this league than Laughton.
Laughton is a steady performer. He’s not flashy. He’s not a goal-scoring threat, as I mentioned earlier. But he does the little things correctly. He is one of the better defensive-minded forwards out there. He is also fairly versatile, playing both left wing and center. His career face-off percentage is just a hair over 50% (50.7%), which is decent.
If Couturier is down for a long time, it’s likely that Kevin Hayes will move to the front line. Laughton is another internal option the Flyers have for the second or third lines by shuffling him from the left wing to center. This can open a spot for a younger winger who may flourish better there than a center who is not yet prepared (Tyson Foerster) for the show or an older vet, like Patrick Brown, who may not be ideal to shoulder the load.
Laughton can use this time to take some of the leadership this team needs and put it on his shoulders. He can easily become one of Coach Tortorella’s “go-to guys” by doing all the fine little things correctly.
If he can step up and perform, it will help the Flyers better take the bitter pill of the loss of Couturier. While he can’t be easily replaced, a strong effort by Laughton will help the blow. This can be Laughton’s time to shine if he is willing to take it.