DENVER — Scott Laughton will play center alongside Bobby McMann and Max Domi when he makes his Toronto Maple Leafs debut on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche.

One day earlier, the forward was traded by the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a conditional first-round pick in 2027 and forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin.

The Toronto native spoke to the media ahead of his debut and touched on several topics, including the fact that he's much closer to home for his father, Craig, who can make the drive from Oakville to see his games.

How do you feel 24 hours after being traded?

I got some food in me and a little bit of sleep and yeah really excited I think it's a cool moment and a lot of change but really excited to kind of just jump right in and get going here.

How did you find out about the trade and what was your immediate reaction?

I was at the rink in Philly so I wasn't practicing and I had a conversation with Danny B (Flyers GM Danielle Briere) and yeah it kind of happened within five minutes and that was it so I said my goodbyes and got home to my wife and got on a plane.

Did you fly here with the emotional? What does it mean to you to be a Maple Leaf?

Yeah I think emotions were high yesterday I think leaving one place. I grew up in Philly and had a lot of great friendships I think with the staff and everyone there. I think you spend a lot of time and a lot of hours so to come here and to have all my family still at home and my parents in Oakville and it's a cool feeling. I just thought about my dad being able to drive down to my games and I think that's a pretty cool feeling so I'm really really excited and it's good to come to a team like this and such great talent here. To get a chance at the playoffs again is something that I wanted.

Did you fly here by any chance with Erik Johnson?

Yeah I did fly here with Erik.

What was that like the conversations or whatever to help you process what was going on?

"I got some food in me and a little bit of sleep and yeah really excited I think it's a cool moment and a lot of change but really excited to kind of just jump right in and get going here.

How did you find out about the trade and what was your immediate reaction?

I was at the rink in Philly so I wasn't practicing and I had a conversation with Danny B (Flyers GM Danielle Briere) and yeah it kind of happened within five minutes and that was it so I said my goodbyes and got home to my wife and got on a plane.

Did you fly here with the emotional? What does it mean to you to be a Maple Leaf?

Yeah I think emotions were high yesterday I think leaving one place. I grew up in Philly and had a lot of great friendships I think with the staff and everyone there. I think you spend a lot of time and a lot of hours so to come here and to have all my family still at home and my parents in Oakville and it's a cool feeling. I just thought about my dad being able to drive down to my games and I think that's a pretty cool feeling so I'm really really excited and it's good to come to a team like this and such great talent here. To get a chance at the playoffs again is something that I wanted.

Did you fly here by any chance with Erik Johnson?

Yeah I did fly here with Erik.

What was that like the conversations or whatever to help you process what was going on?

I think it was free first off but no we spent a lot of time together in the year and a half we had. Weird how it worked out together that we were on the same plane flying here and he was kind of upset when I got traded and then 2:30 came around and he was gone. So it kind of worked out the way it's supposed to and hopefully he gets a chance here to play some games.

What have you made of this Leafs team from afar?

I think the talent is very high. They brought in Stolie and Woll. Their goaltending has been very good for them this year. Their back end is big and heavy. It makes it hard to play through the middle. And obviously you know some of the guys up front that can put the puck in the back of the net. So I just want to add a little bit of energy, grit and make it easy on those guys to go out there and do their job.