PHILADELPHIA -- Scott Laughton admits he breathed a sigh of relief once the clock struck 3 p.m. ET on March 8 and he remained a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
The forward had heard his name in rumors ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline, and despite assurances from general manager Daniel Brière that a trade was unlikely, he said there was still some stress as the hours ticked away.
"Always a little bit nerve-wracking time with all the rumors flying around, but very happy and grateful to still be here and be a part of this great group," Laughton said.
Laughton has 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) in 70 games this season and is tied with Simon Holmstrom of the New York Islanders for the NHL lead with seven short-handed points. But more than the on-ice results, he's become a leader and emotional heartbeat on a team has leaned on its culture to push for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Philadelphia (35-26-9) is third in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the fourth-place Washington Capitals. That lead will be tested this weekend when the Flyers plays the top two teams in the Atlantic Division on consecutive days, hosting the division-leading Boston Bruins at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSP, NESN, SN1, TVAS), and the second-place Florida Panthers on Sunday.
"I think it's pretty well known he's such a presence in the locker room," forward Morgan Frost said. "Especially going into this run and trying to make the playoffs. It's obviously good to have him around."
Laughton has been an alternate captain the past two seasons, but his presence goes beyond any letters on the front of his jersey. He commands the dressing room stereo before and after games, is one of the louder trash talkers on the team and brings a positive outlook that is needed to lighten the mood during the grind of an 82-game season.
Or as Frost said, "We have a lot of characters on this team but he's probably the main character."
"I love doing that stuff, setting up different dinners and things like that, rookie dinners, and doing all that stuff away from the ice," Laughton said. "I think it brings so much to the group when you have a team that's close and comes together like that. It goes a long way. So I take a lot of pride in it."
Laughton credits his approach to the players that mentored him when he was breaking into the NHL with the Flyers, among them Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen, Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds.
His teammates reciprocated by going to Briere and letting him know Laughton needed to remain in Philadelphia.
"Danny's around a lot so you have lots of conversations with him here and there," defenseman Travis Sanheim said. "He's aware of what [Laughton] means, not only as a guy in this locker room, on the ice, but away from the rink, what he does for this team every single day. It would be a really hard guy to replace and I think he understood that. I think he knew that before any of us even mentioned it."
Knowing how his teammates stood up for him is deeply meaningful for Laughton.
"Makes me pretty emotional, to be honest," he said. "To have that type of support from the room is amazing. I try and be the same guy every day for the guys, and the guy that people can lean on in different situations. So it means a lot to me and it's very special."
Briere, though, didn't need anyone to tell him what Laughton means to the group. He's seen the value Laughton brings but said his job requires him to listen when teams call, and they did about Laughton's availability.
"I was upfront with him," Briere said. "I told him that I wasn't shopping him. I wasn't going to trade him for fair value because he's more than fair value to us. The intangibles that he brings to the locker room is something that has no price. The other teams don't see that, but we do. I told him that we're not going to trade you if it’s just a fair trade. Someone would have to overstep and really knock it out of the ballpark for us to consider it.
"I did listen. I had a lot of teams interested in him, as you can imagine. ... But not good enough for us to let a player like that go, that is critical to the development of our locker room and the guys around him."
During his 11 seasons with the Flyers, Laughton has had more coaches (seven) than trips to the playoffs (four). After going through so many difficult seasons, Laughton is happy to be part of what he believes is a team poised for an extended run of success.
"I've put a lot of time in here and I want to be a part of this when we go on a deep run," he said. "Hopefully it's this year. But I want to be a part of this and see some of these guys come up here and do it with guys like [Sean Couturier] and [Travis Konecny] and 'Sanny' and Joel Farabee, guys that have been here for a while that really care about this organization and we want to do well for each other and this city."
