When Steven Lorentz looks back on playing against Scott Laughton in his junior days, he remembers a player who had a mean face and a knack for scoring goals. All these years later, they're fighting side-by-side on a line with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Lorentz was on the Peterborough Petes. Laughton was with the Oshawa Generals. Two OHL rivals that often had spirited battles.
"We've come a long way from the junior days where I really didn't like the guy. You know, he kind of lit us up in Oshawa when I was in Peterborough quite a bit," Lorentz said, before mentioning their relationship 11 years later. "I think it's been a 180 since then. He's a great addition to this club."
Laughton joined the Maple Leafs at the trade deadline for prospect Nikita Grebenkin and a 2027 conditional first-round pick. It wasn't the best start for the forward and his new team. He scored two goals and two assists in 20 regular-season games before tallying just two assists in 13 playoff games.
It might've been the on-ice stuff that was most difficult for him, though.
"Within like two or three days, every single guy in the locker room, he was treating them like he was their best friend. Everybody loves Laughty. He's a great glue guy. You need guys like that if you want to win," Lorentz added.
"If you want to have teams that are close-knit, guys that hold each other accountable, he's like the prime example of a guy that does that. And I told him, the first couple days of camp, watching him move, he just seems more confident with the puck, without the puck. He seems more aggressive."
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Laughton admitted earlier in training camp that it was difficult not to produce with Toronto in the back half of the season and into the playoffs. He entered this camp with a lot to prove, and he'll get to have another showing alongside Lorentz and Easton Cowan in Montreal on Thursday night.
What's most fascinating, though, is the relationship Laughton and Lorentz have built off the ice.
"A guy like Laughty, he's simple, easygoing, laid-back guy, but he's a joker. And like I said, he's kind of in the loop with every guy in the locker room. It's easy to play with and play for a guy like that, so him and I got very close," Lorentz said.
When you have that off-ice bond, it can help with the play on the ice, Laughton added.
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"I think when you're able to talk about certain situations when you come off the ice, when you can hold each other accountable in the plays, and you feel comfortable with the guy. And I think it goes a long way.
"So I think it's coming for us. I think we just need to continue to play that simple game. And then you create things throughout a long season."
Lorentz gave his biggest memory when facing Laughton in junior. But what about the other way around — what does Laughton remember about his OHL battles with Lorentz?
"I remember Stevie. They had a good. A decent team, I'll say," Laughton smiled.
"They were decent, but it was a big rivalry in junior, right? So we saw him eight times a year, and we'd see him all the time. So it's pretty cool to be playing with him, and he's obviously from around this area. So to get to know him and how good of a guy he is off the ice, it's nice."
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