Of all the players on the Philadelphia Flyers that have been thrown into the rumor mill over the last few weeks, the one guy who is the most interesting when it comes to assessing what his value may be is 29-year-old Scott Laughton.
He’s 519 games into his NHL career, posted a personal-best 18 goals and 43 points and is one of the higher-end depth Swiss army knife forwards in the league today, not to mention he’s a great leader, serving as the de facto captain of the Flyers despite not being handed the “C.”
There have been multiple hefty rumors out there suggesting a king’s ransom some teams are willing to offer in exchange for Laughton that GM Danny Briere has already turned down. It’s a surprising development with the new rebuilding initiatives the organization has in place, you’d think they’d be jumping at the bit for multiple picks for the aging forward.
The NHL has become very boring when it comes to trades. When star players get dealt, there’s typically a bland, cookie cutter return; prospect, first round pick, second round pick and a mid-round pick and/or mid-level prospect as icing on the cake.
Rinse and repeat.
Though, one area where trades are far from cookie cutter are solid depth forwards. It’s where most teams struggle the most, and pay through the nose to solve come trade deadline time as they gear up for a playoff run.
With trade rumors surrounding forward Scott Laughton, it has asked a very interesting question, what exactly is his trade value in today’s NHL?
Looking back at the last two trade deadlines, there are a couple deals that stand out featuring depth forward going for high prices.
2023 NHL Trade Deadline
Jordan Greenway to BUF- 2023 2nd 2024 5th
Greenway, 26, is more of the grinder/enforcer type than a versatile depth forward, but his return raised an eyebrow at the 2023 trade deadline when the Sabres gave up a 2023 second round pick and a 2024 fifth rounder for his services. He also has two years left on his deal at a $3 million cap hit
Tanner Jeannot to TBL- Cal Foote, 2025 1st, 2024 2nd, 2023 3rd, 2023 4th, 2023, 5th
This was probably the craziest trade in recent NHL history in terms of a return. The Bolts gave up defense prospect Cal Foote and five draft picks spread over three years for 26-year-old Tanner Jeannot. He had a very good rookie season in 2021-22 with 24 goals, 41 points and a whopping 130 penalty minutes, but that level disappeared completely with just five goals, 18 points and 85 penalty minutes at the time of the trade.
2022 Trade Deadline
Andrew Copp to NYR- Morgan Barron, 2022 first (condt upgrade), 2022 second, 2023 5th
The Rangers paid a premium for then 27-year-old Andrew Copp at the deadline. He helped carry them to the Eastern Conference Final with 14 points in 20 postseason games and then signed a five-year, $28 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings in free agency.
Calle Jarnkrok to CGY- 2022 second, 2023 third, 2024 seventh
Jarnkrok may be the most directly comparable to Laughton in terms of the role he plays on a team. Seattle was in full-on hoarding draft pick mode at the time of the deal and Calgary had already moved the 2022 first rounder in the Tyler Toffoli deal. A second and third is still a decent return for a 30-point forward, but it’s not quite the home run as some other deals.
The thing is, it’s not the trade deadline, it’s the offseason. Are players of his nature still valued the same when the Cup isn’t within sniffing distance? There are depth forwards who were acquired at deadlines, won the Cup, then cashed out in free agency with a new team riding their reputation for all it’s worth. Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow signed six year, $29.4 and $21.8 million deals with the Flames and Rangers respectively after winning the Cup with Tampa in 2021. Nick Paul re-signed long-term in Tampa after being acquired at the 2022 trade deadline despite not winning a Cup. while there’s undoubtedly a level of recency bias there, those players are still on team’s radars after the season has concluded.
For the Flyers, stockpiling as many draft picks over the next season or two is the name of the game, and adding as many first and second round picks as they can in 2023 is the goal for the next few days leading up to the draft.
If St. Louis is actually considering sending a late 2023 first round pick and a future second round pick as Frank Seravalli seems to suggest on his latest DFO Rundown and Briere has so far turned them down, it definitely raises an eyebrow, because that may be as close to a perfect return as they can get.
It’s a package that’s hard to turn your nose up at if you’re the Flyers who are entering a rebuild. That said, the locker room and management clearly have the utmost respect for Laughton and his voice carries weight within the organization. There’s more than just on-ice value they’d be losing if he were dealt away.
With the goal ultimately being landing as high a pick in the 2023 draft as possible, holding out on giving him to St. Louis may sound crazy now, but it’s possible that the Blues get desperate and add more, or another team outbids. It’s also possible the Blues get tired of waiting and go in a different direction and the Flyers are left to sit back and ponder their choices.
Will the Flyers trade Scott Laughton this summer? That still seems like a 50/50 call, but with multiple teams interested, it’s a chance for Danny Briere to craft a return to really show his prowess as a GM. Given there’s no real set benchmark for a cookie cutter trade, it’ll be up to him to compose the best return possible, it’ll just come down to whether or not they want to part with their leader.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: NHL.com
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