‘I wasn’t ok’: Scott Laughton discovering peace with life as a Maple Leaf

TORONTO — The commerce out of the one NHL sweater he’d ever recognized. The stress of delivering for his hometown group, after it shelled out a first-round choose and intriguing prospect to convey him in. The rush of post-season hockey after 5 lengthy springs with out.

A variety of stress. A variety of new. 

A variety of adjustment. A variety of criticism.

Also: A helluva lot of enjoyable.

“It was a long time since I had the hair stick up on my arms, and you get that feeling,” says Laughton, standing outdoors the Maple Leafs’ west-end observe facility, a brief commute from his Oakville, Ont., roots. 

The 12-year veteran is effervescent with a rookie’s pleasure. 

“There’s nothing like it when you play in the playoffs and you get a chance to live out your dream of winning. And we were close,” he continues. “That’s in the past now, but that was just a cool, cool feeling.”

Play on sufficient crummy groups, slog by way of a rebuild or two, get bumped down the lineup extra instances than you may depend, and your appreciation for significant shifts swells within the shadows.

No matter how desperately Laughton needed to be a difference-maker, although, he struggled to seek out his area of interest in coach Craig Berube’s lineup. 

His puck luck turned all jinxes and hexes. He jetted to Denver hours after the swap, slipped on the blue and white and was dash-2 in a 7-4 blowout earlier than he may blink. He didn’t register some extent for his boyhood membership till 10 video games in and completed with simply two objectives and two assists in 20 regular-season appearances for Toronto.

“I wasn’t good enough last year. That’s the bottom line,” says Laughton, who posted a career-low minus-18 in 2024-25.

“It was hard. The hardest part was, for sure, leaving Philly. You grew up there, and we had our kid there, and everything like that. You build something there, and I think you’re so ingrained in being a Flyer. So, to come here was a different feeling.” 

Fiercely self-critical and refreshingly sincere, Laughton wanted these months after Game 7’s buzzer to come back to grips with that feeling.

Laughton purchased an previous fixer-upper Muskoka cottage (“The maintenance guy was up there the other day and fell through the deck,” he says, chuckling) and slowed life down along with his spouse, Chloe, and their child son, Reed.

As the morning steam wisped off the glassy lake, they’d put round of their pontoon boat — “a living room on the water,” he beams — to bask within the quiet.

A pointy distinction from the high-stakes, full-contact chaos of labor and the din between his ears.

“It was nice to get up north just to kind of clear my head. I had a lot going on just within myself. I think you put a lot of pressure on yourself and your head’s kind of spinning. So, to take a couple of weeks just to yourself and to have that up there was really nice,” Laughton explains. 

“It’s a special place up there. It’s peaceful.”

Laughton joined the professional coaching skates run by Sam Gagner in Bracebridge, Ont., and hit the gymnasium with function.

Teammates and Leafs staffers have already observed a extra relaxed and chattier model of the participant who as soon as wielded one of many strongest voices within the Flyers’ dressing room.

Laughton, who wore an “A” in Philly, admits he was hesitant to talk up final spring as the brand new man in Toronto.

“Your play has got to speak for itself. It was tough for me at the start, when I was trying to find my footing,” he says. “I was in a little bit of a shell and just a little bit stuck.”

Now, the 32-year-old is coming in refreshed and free — and smart.

“To have a voice in the room, and I think it can carry. I’ve been in the league for a while. I’ve seen a lot of things, and been through some really tough times in Philly too. And not everything’s perfect,” Laughton says. “Guys are pretty lucky here. You make the playoffs a lot of years, and you can’t take that for granted — to have a chance every single year.”

Skeptics of the Laughton commerce will level to the first-week hype that ex-Leafs prospect Nikita Grebenkin is stirring in Flyers camp alongside Trevor Zegras and Matvei Michkov.

Defenders of the deal will remind that Laughton was no rental, that his efficiency in 2025-26 ought to weigh heavy within the commerce verdict.

To that finish, Berube won’t solely give the versatile Laughton an opportunity to guide Toronto’s fourth line, with doubtless alternatives to maneuver up the bench, however a extra outstanding place on the penalty kill.

Laughton believes the PK drives his recreation. He has scored 10 shorthanded objectives in his profession and likes to create sneaky offence in four-on-five conditions.

The plan is for righthanded centre Nicolas Roy and lefty Laughton to spell one another off for strong-side defensive attracts.

“Take some load off Tone (Auston Matthews) and guys like that, so he doesn’t have to go out every single draw,” Laughton says.

Laughton’s capability to affect the Leafs will affect his checking account.

On observe to be an unrestricted free agent, he’ll be gunning for a increase from his $3 million AAV this summer season. But that’s a stress for an additional day.

“I actually haven’t thought about it,” Laughton says. “You gotta be good and play to your potential. And whatever happens, happens. I’ve never hit free agency, so I don’t even know the feeling. So, I haven’t even thought that far ahead. I just want to have a good start for our group and contribute where I can.”

A clear slate. Laughton’s first full season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“It’s nice being in your hometown. I mean, it’s September, and you’re still home, and you get to see family,” he says. 

“It’s a special feeling. I don’t take it for granted, that’s for sure. Something I take a lot of pride in is putting on this sweater and trying to be the best I can for this group.”