June 12, 2023
Danny Brière's trade of Ivan Provorov last week officially marked the Flyers as "open for business," and it seems to have led to more teams calling in, on one player in particular.
Scott Laughton has become a popular name, per Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, and although the Flyers would like to keep him around as a reliable veteran presence through the rebuild, a great enough offer would push them to at least think it over.
Said Friedman during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final Saturday night down in Florida:
"Well [Brière] made the big trade this week and people started to call a bit more, and I heard at the combine that one of the names that was probably mentioned the most was Scott Laughton. He's signed for three more years at $3 million a season, he's a really good player. Teams are always looking for centers.
"I think the Flyers believe this: Look, they're turning their team over, they're going to have a lot of young players, you need good veterans around them. I think they would – in a perfect world – I'd think they'd like to keep Laughton BUT, and this is a "but," if they get the right price, they'll consider it.
"I just heard there's been a lot of teams calling about him, and like Ted DiBiase said – The Million Dollar Man – everybody's got a price." [Sportsnet]
Is Scott Laughton on the move? All eyes on Noah Hanifin? 2024 #NHLDraft location? 🗺️@FriedgeHNIC and @DavidAmber discuss what's going on behind the scenes in the NHL. 👇 pic.twitter.com/QgYoA4AN5e
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 11, 2023
Laughton, 29, is the longest-tenured Flyer behind only Sean Couturier and was the only skater to wear a captaincy letter for the team this past season.
A two-way center who carved out a steady role within the bottom six through the last decade, he put up a career-best 18 goals and 43 points for the 2022-23 campaign, which coupled with a very reasonable cap hit over the next three years, would make him an attractive option to a lot of teams looking for that one last piece.
The Flyers do think very highly of him though, and as a veteran who can help guide the incoming youth along – not to mention a player who's constantly been at the forefront of the organization's outreach efforts, especially within the area's LGBTQ+ community – they'd fully be within reason to keep him around.
Since his appointment as the full-time general manager, Brière has made it clear that there are no untouchable players on the Flyers' roster right now but also maintained that any prospective trade needs to have value that adds up coming back.
"We're open for business," he said last week. "We'll listen if it makes sense. If the value is there for us, definitely."
And there have been offers for Laughton, per The Fourth Period's Anthony Di Marco in a follow-up of Friedman's report from Saturday night. Late first-rounders have reportedly been included even.
But it seems that value for Laughton doesn't add up, not for what the Flyers believe he brings.
As mentioned on @hockeynight yesterday, there has been a lot of interest on #Flyers forward Scott Laughton.
— Anthony Di Marco (@ADiMarco25) June 11, 2023
PHI has turned down late first round picks in offers for Laughton, which is indicative of how much they value the player. #fueledbyphilly
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