‘I still believe in this team’: Why Laughton wants to re-sign with Maple Leafs

SEATTLE — You can count the number of Toronto Maple Leafs games till trade deadline when Scott Laughton — simultaneously a guy worth keeping and a guy who’d sure fetch value — flashes a smile in the team’s dressing room.

“Honestly, I haven’t talked to my agent,” Laughton says. “Might have to give him a jingle here.”

The 31-year-old Laughton, an impending unrestricted free agent, needs a new contract at the end of this season, when the five-year, $15-million pact he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers expires. 

To the player’s knowledge, his agent, Pat Morris, and Leafs GM Brad Treliving have yet to engage in meaningful negotiations. (Treliving is gauging the market and giving his deadline strategy a hard think.)

Laughton prefers to only hear from Morris when serious decisions are nigh. He’s good at compartmentalizing his thoughts, which are solely focused on digging his sagging hockey team out of its worrisome, perhaps impossible, hole.

But he’s also acutely aware that these critical next few weeks come with individual stakes as well as team ones.

And the Oakville, Ont., native makes it clear that his preference would be to re-sign with the Maple Leafs and bring a Stanley Cup home.

“I sure hope so,” Laughton told Sportsnet.ca Thursday in Seattle. “I have family close. And the staff, you get treated first class here. Original Six team. It’s special every time you go on the ice. 

“You get chills every time going out, thinking about this team you grew up watching. And I’ve said this before, but I’ve fallen in love with the guys here. We have a great group of guys who really care and want to be at their best.”

We have to admit: They’re not at their best.

The Maple Leafs slump their way to Western Canada. A disastrous 0-5-1 skid has them 10 points and six teams back of a wild-card slot.

Should Treliving find himself a seller come March, surely a few contenders would give him a jingle on Laughton, a savvy, heart-and-soul veteran who brings versatility, leadership, and a tidy $1.5 million cap hit — thanks to former club Philadelphia’s 50 per cent retention.

“They have a job to do, to try and make the team better. And it’s my job to try and prove that I’m part of the solution. So, I think, yeah, it weighs in the back of your mind when you have a small family,” explains Laughton, whose son, Reed, will turn two years old later this year.

“In this stretch here we have, you’re trying to help the team win. The best testament of your play is if your team’s winning, and it sucks right now to not be winning.”

It’s not for lack of effort on the part of Laughton, who has chipped in eight goals, contributed to a quality penalty kill, and swiped a career-best 57 per cent of his draws.

All of this while starting a career-high 87 per cent of his shifts in the defensive zone and seeing his lowest ice time (13:46) of the past eight seasons.

“He leads with just effort and determination out there, doing all the little things right with penalty killing and checking,” coach Craig Berube says. 

“He blocks shots. He does a lot of good things, and then scores goals for us too, at the same time. Not a lot, but he scores. And then, he’s such a good leader in the locker room with his voice. He’s on top of things and keeps everybody on their toes in there. He’s very good in the locker room.”

Laughton is fantastic for culture, for morale, for vibes. The Maple Leafs will be worse off — and quieter — if they lose him. The worst-case scenario, though, would be losing him for nothing. The “own rental” trend must end.

Speak with Laughton’s teammates, and their vote is unanimous. 

“I’ve talked to him too,” defenceman Brandon Carlo says. “We are very similar in that we both got traded here last year. And through those discussions, (I know) we both love it here. You know, I think this organization is an amazing place to play. You get treated so well. The city is incredible. 

“So, we would love to have him back in all aspects. But for him specifically, he’s such a good team guy. His presence in the room and off the ice speaks louder than most things I could say. So, just having that presence around is very important, and that’d be a huge bonus to keep him around this group.”

Treliving’s ultimate power move: Rent Laughton elsewhere to enjoy a playoff run elsewhere, then bring him back on July 1 with term. The strategy is risky and rare but not without precedent. (In 2015, for example, the Coyotes rented Antoine Vermette to the Blackhawks. The forward got a ring and re-signed in Arizona on July 1.)

Laughton says his past negotiations with the Flyers gave him “tougher skin” when it comes to the haggle. As a restricted free agent, he was heading for arbitration but settled before his case came due. And his first contract year as a UFA drifted to mid-April despite a nice fit between player and club.

“You learn about the business and everything that goes into it,” Laughton says.

The major reason Laughton, so beloved in his 12 years a Flyer, okayed his 2025 deadline move to playoff-bound Toronto was because he craves a ring.

That, he says, more than money, is his priority.

“You want to win. I made it clear in Philly at last year's deadline that this was a team that I believed in and that I wanted to come to. And I still believe in this team, even though we are where we are,” Laughton asserts. 

“We have the pieces to do something really special here. We obviously have to gain some ground here and go from there. And it’s a short time till the deadline, so it’s something that we have to get figured out here. But, yeah, you want to win. That’s my sole focus.”