The Los Angeles Kings have acquired center Scott Laughton from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a conditional second-round pick.
The Los Angeles Kings and GM Ken Holland have made their second trade of the day. Mayor's Manor reported that the Kings acquired center Scott Laughton from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman later confirmed that report.
In return, Los Angeles sent a 2026 conditional third-round pick to Toronto as the deal was finalized in the late queue at the NHL trade deadline.
That draft pick becomes a second-rounder if the Kings make the Stanley Cup playoffs, ESPN's Emily Kaplan reported. As of the trade deadline, Los Angeles is three points behind the Seattle Kraken, who own the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
At last year's trade deadline, the Maple Leafs acquired Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers for a first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin. This time around, Holland brings in the same player for a far lower price.
Laughton, 31, has been a key penalty killer for the Maple Leafs this season and is an excellent leader and competitor. He's spent most of this campaign as a bottom-six center, taking reps on the third and fourth line.
In 43 games this season, Laughton has eight goals, 12 points and a minus-three rating. He missed some time early in the year with an upper-body injury and was also a healthy scratch for Toronto's last two games. It was listed as roster management, as Leafs GM Brad Treliving was expecting to move him.
In terms of killing penalties, Laughton averages 2:17 of ice time while his team is shorthanded. What ties in nicely with that ability is how good he is in the faceoff dot, posting a 56.7 percent on the year.
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