The Philadelphia Flyers should trade Scott Laughton before the deadline
Trading pending unrestricted free agent forward Scott Laughton doesn’t necessarily make the Philadelphia Flyers a better team by any means, but it’s a move that the team must seriously consider before we reach the NHL’s trade deadline on Monday, April 12. And even though I like Laughton as a player, moving him appears to have more long-term benefits to the club than keeping him for the remainder of this season would.
A long-term deal between the team and Laughton, their first-round pick way back in 2012, would be a win on the surface. But two big factors stand in the way of making the situation so cut and dry: the NHL’s stagnant salary cap and the looming expansion draft.
In terms of salary, Laughton has been a bargain for the last few years, making $2.3 million per season at the moment. But he is due a hefty raise before next season, whether it be from the Flyers or someone else.
Unfortunately, the fact that the NHL’s salary cap is almost certain to remain at $81.5 million next season (and hopefully won’t drop) means that the Flyers cannot simply rely on a “cost of living” increase to fit Laughton’s new salary into the budget. Retain him, and you must cut a few million dollars somewhere else. And this is before even accounting for pending raises to Carter Hart and Travis Sanheim.
Trading Scott Laughton before the deadline would be in the Philadelphia Flyers’ best interests.
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To support this method of thinking, it’s best to get assets in return for him right now via trade, rather than letting him leave for nothing after the season. The Flyers’ horrific month of March has put them in this position, and they must come to terms with the risk vs. reward of keeping Laughton for the rest of the year when there remains a very real possibility that he leaves in the offseason.
As mentioned, the other boogeyman here is the expansion draft; a topic covered ad nauseam for going on a few years now. Even if the Flyers did hang onto Laughton by inking him to a new deal, they must then make another difficult decision.
Do they protect him while exposing younger and cheaper players like Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick to the expansion Seattle Kraken? Say what you will about the performances of these two players this year, but if you have any hope for their future potential, losing either would be a bitter pill to swallow.
The other option would be to sign Laughton and leave him unprotected, but more or less “bribe” Seattle not to take him by sending assets their way, in the form of draft picks and/or a young player. Now we’re talking about Laughton essentially costing even more than the extra cap space that his new contract ties up.
Maybe the Flyers think this path would be worth it in order to retain all three of Laughton, Lindblom, and Patrick. But now you’ve had to strike a deal with another team in order to do it, something that didn’t work out well for the clubs who dealt similarly with Vegas when they entered the league four years ago.
Plus, by nudging the Kraken away from Laughton, who would the Flyers end up losing in the draft? It would likely be Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who offers next to no salary cap relief. In this case, the Flyers would almost certainly have to move one of their expensive veterans, namely Jakub Voracek or James van Riemsdyk, since neither has a no-movement clause (Claude Giroux and Kevin Hayes do).
To recap, the cost of retaining Laughton looks something like…
• $1-$2 million in extra salary on the books
• Paying off Seattle with, most likely, multiple assets not to select whomever the Flyers expose among Laughton, Lindblom, and Patrick
• Losing Aube-Kubel in the expansion draft and then having to shed either JVR or Voracek’s salary somehow. Alternatively, they may be able to entice Seattle into taking one of them, but that would likely cost even more in terms of draft picks/players.
To avoid this, the Flyers might as well right now, giving themselves more roster and cap flexibility as we head into a crucial offseason. And perhaps he even returns to the Flyers as a free agent, although I wouldn’t hold my breath on that scenario playing out.
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Scott Laughton has made great strides with the Philadelphia Flyers over the past few seasons. In a perfect world, he would continue on as a useful player for this organization for years to come. But the business side of things is a reality, and so I’m going on record as saying that the Flyers should trade Scott Laughton. I don’t make this statement lightly, as it really pains me to say it.