Flyers Trade
BREAKING: Flyers Trade Laughton for Draft Pick and Prospect
The Philadelphia Flyers have traded long-time forward Scott Laughton to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 21-year-old forward Nikita Grebenkin and a conditional 2027 first-round pick. The Flyers are retaining 50% of Laughton’s remaining contract, and are sending a fourth and a sixth-round pick back to Toronto.
Toronto’s first is top-10 protected. The years of the Flyers’ picks going to Toronto have not yet been confirmed.
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported first, with Elliotte Friedman confirming the report. Jacob Stoller was first on the return, and Pierre LeBrun reported the pick is in 2027.
Read More:Â TRADE: Flyers Flip Pending UFA for 2027 Draft Pick; Full Analysis
The End of Laugton’s Tenure
Scott Laughton’s name has been in the rumor mill for the past few years. He was a hard player to part with for a multitude of reasons.
Laughton has been the heart and soul of this Flyers team for a long time now. Whether you are tired of hearing the word or not, Laughton had a massive impact on the team’s culture. His impact stretched far beyond the locker room, and into the Philadelphia community. He wore the “A” on his Flyers sweater for a reason. Laughton was in his 12th season with the Flyers.
On the ice, the veteran center was a Swiss army knife. He played center or the wing for the Flyers. Laughton played crucial minutes on the Flyers’ penalty kill and did it at an extremely high level. He also played on the Flyers’ top power play. He is a jack of all trades type player.
With the Flyers, Laughton totaled 661 career games, 106 goals and 159 assists, tallying 265 total points.
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About the New Guy
Nikita Grebyenkin is a former 2022 5th-round pick by Toronto. He is a 6’2″, 209-pound winger with a left-handed shot. There is plenty to like about him. He had great production in various levels of the Russian leagues, including winning the 2022/23 KHL Rookie of the Year.
He started this season in Toronto, but after seven pointless games, he went down to the Marlies (AHL), where he has nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 39 games.
It is unclear where he will report once the trade finalizes. Regardless, he is young and has tons of potential. The Flyers front office made a great decision by adding another young winger to the forward group. Getting Grebenkin and a first-round pick was a fleece job by Briere and company.
Read More: 2025 NHL Trade Deadline: It’s a Seller’s Market
I have absolutely no clue what the plan is. Briere seems to covet picks more than actually putting a quality team on the ice. Sure, having seven picks in the top 60 in this June’s draft is nice and having two first rounders in 2027 is nice, but aren’t we just kicking the can down the road in perpetuity? At what point are we actually going to have players on the ice? A 2027 first rounder won’t actually be a regular contributor until at best 2030. Konecny will be 33 at that point, Tippett will be 31… And that assumes the scouting department does it’s job with aplomb.
If I’m Briere, I don’t make the deal unless it includes Easton Cowan. Full stop.
What’s the point of having Michkov in the line-up if he’s without a quality center???
Colorado shipped out Calum Ritchie and a first for a rental in Brock Nelson. How has Briere not asked for the same from Toronto, especially when Laughton has an extra year and the Leafs can trade him for a first at the deadline next year???? Embarrassing.
Pathetic.
not getting it either ! ! !
True. A few years from now, I can see us on here commenting on an article about Briere and Jones being let go because the rebuild hasn’t gone anywhere in six years and the team just keeps on treading water.
“Getting Grebenkin and a first-round pick was a fleece job by Briere and company.”
In what universe????
A top ten protected 2027 first rounder and a kid who is a known head case for Scott Laughton, $1.5 million, a 4th and a 6th?
Have you lost your mind?
I’m not as upset with this trade as some seem to be, given that the Flyers have admitted they are in a rebuild (more on that later).
While I liked Laughton, he isn’t the type of player that’s going to reach his full potential the way our team is currently playing. He’s a good player to have if you’re a contender, but a contender we are not.
With that in mind, I think we tend to overvalue our own players, because we grow to like them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it somehow blinds us to a player’s limitations (as part of our team).
I think the Flyers did get a good value for him, and probably more than he was actually worth given that it was a seller’s market.
Given the player and the teams involved, it might be a rare win for everyone. The Leafs got a player that can help them win now. Flyers management got the 1st round draft pick (and a prospect) that they wanted. And Scott gets to go play for his hometown team, which I imagine is pretty cool and perhaps the top place he’d want to be if he had to go.
All that said, I am not a fan of rebuilds and also wonder where it ends. There are NHL teams that have been rebuilding for what seems like decades. Personally, I’d much prefer an emphasis on winning every season (while not blowing up your salary cap), since I think when you say you’re rebuilding you’re adopting a loser mentality that only leads to more losing. But that’s above my pay grade.
I wouldn’t call it a fleece job but a first round pick and a decent prospect for Laughton – good versatile player but not a scorer – is an acceptable return. I’m not happy with the salary retention – we have to get away from that – but Toronto likely wouldn’t have given a first without it. I would have preferred Fraser Minten or Cowan but that probably would have been a dealbreaker for the Leafs. I’ve heard Grebyenkin described as a “live wire”, so that could be interesting, and he is friends with Michkov. Maybe they click in the future.
All that said, I agree with other commenters that draft capital is nice, but often they don’t pan out. Drafting 18-year-olds is like going to Wawa to buy a lottery ticket. You have to build through a combination of wise drafting, shrewd trades, and free-agent signings. This is where DB needs to get very busy this summer and through next. The team regressed this season; not a good sign in a rebuild.
Well said. It’s one thing if you are masters in the draft, but the Flyers need to arrive at the conclusion that they aren’t the best. Not a ton that’s setting the world on fire right now.
Passing on Buium still gives me nightmares. And for the record, I think Luchanko will turn into the second coming of Laughton, but that’s a few years from now and having a quality third line center isn’t as valuable as having an all-star defenceman. Obviously, both are projections based on a survey of scouts, but I disagree with Briere’s assessment that a team can only have so many 6’0″ defencemen.
So. We added another forward/winger who can’t score to our existing group of forwards who have a hard time scoring…. GREAT!
But let me guess. “He plays a 200-ft. game.
Still a prospect, so obviously he’ll have much to work on. Grebenkin is a big-bodied scoring winger that plays a physical game. Much more an offensive player. Has the upside to be a high end second line scorer.
People crying about retaining salary on Laughton need to wise up and get a sense of how the real world works.
They’re $28M under the cap going into this offseason, not factoring in Ryan Ellis LTIR option. If Danny Briere is able to convince enough free agents worthy of a combined $30M+ in cap to sign with a rebuilding team this offseason you can build a statue for him.
You’re worried about retention slots? Why? Because of the possibility of grabbing a 4th round pick by retaining salary for someone in a rare three team trade? I’ll take the better prospect/pick now than that possible lottery ticket that may never come to fruition.
A bit of a material misrepresentation on that 28M figure. Sure that’s the raw number, but pending RFA’s that need new deals are York (likely 3.5M per), Foerster (likely 3M per) and Cates (likely 3.5M). So that 28M is more like 18M. To add, there aren’t a ton of juicy UFA’s this summer, particularly at the Center position. Obviously, this discounts any trade, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a smidge more trade capital than the bullshit deal he swung and have 1.5M more in salary flexibility?
Regardless, the salary retention isn’t the issue, it’s the overall terms of the deal that make it sound like Shirley just went on a date and showed a bit too much that night.
Brad Treliving: “We’d like Laughton.”
DB: “Cool. What can you offer?”
BT: (Licking his lips) “We can give you… wait for it… that coveted first round pick – it’s gonna be a dandy. But wait. There’s more… We can throw in a sure fire prospect, one that’s not a head case at all, I swear to you… What do you say?”
DB: “My panties are wet. Tell me more.”
BT: “The prospect is your boy’s good chum. He speaks Russian. I’ll send over the paperwork.”
DB: “THANK YOU, Brad. What a glorious day.”
BT: “Not a bother. Oh, wait. I forgot to tell you, but that first rounder is in 2027 and it is top ten protected. Also, you owe me 1.5 million for Laughton’s salary, a 4th rounder and a 6th rounder. Thanks, Danny. Goodbye”
click
So they’ll have about 18M with 20 players signed to the roster. That’s rough average of 6M to spend per player in free agency. That’s pretty good. If they’re making a trade for someone it means a salary is coming off the current roster. This franchise has never had this much cap flexibility since the inception of the salary cap.
As for the terms of the trade, I think you’re significantly over valuing Laughton. A first round pick and a good prospect for a third line forward is pretty damn good value. If you’re worried about the 4th and 6th round picks, they are about as valuable in the NHL as you going to Wawa and buying a powerball ticket.
They’ve had so much dead money on the books in recent years that has hamstrung them, I want them to get away from this practice. Occasionally, ok, but it can add up if you acquiesce to this too often.
The only way they can get away from that practice is by not overpaying players. The dead money is all tied to players with inflated salaries.
Everyone complaining about the deals that Danny makes doesn’t understand what is happening. Your not going to get a top end prospect plus a 1st for Laughton. I don’t complain why you ask cause I’m not running the club. I sit back and watch and I think Danny is doing fine with the hand he was dealt. I’ve heard good things about the Russian kid he is young lots of upside and on a 800k contract.