PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 11: Scott Laughton #21 of the Philadelphia Flyers looks on against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Wells Fargo Center on January 11, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Lightning defeated the Flyers 1-0. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Date Published: 11-9-2022
Photo Credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
When thinking of the Flyers overall makeup of their team, some people think of some household names like Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, Cam Atkinson, Carter Hart, and Travis Konecny all for good reasons. One name that doesn’t come to some peoples’ minds is Scott Laughton, “To play 400 games for the Flyers and be with this organization since 2012, it’s special to me and my family,” Laughton said following the Arizona Coyotes game. “I love it here.” Well, Philadelphia loves Scott back, and he and John Tortorella are developing a special bond.
“I don’t need to explain it to you guys (On Scott Laughton’s special bond with Tortorella),” Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella explained after practice on 11-7-2022. “He leaves it on the ice all the time. We depend on him. He has helped us on faceoffs. Does he make mistakes? Yeah, but I’m going to go with him.”
“I have a good feeling of who he is, and he has done some really good things for us.” – John Tortorella
For those that remember, Laughton is the only player currently wearing a letter on his jersey thus far for the orange and black. He does a little bit of everything, and does it well, so these comments by Tortorella are not surprising. The writing is on the wall for him to become the next Captain of the Flyers. He has been molded into a leader by Tortorella, and Tortorella doesn’t express his feelings too often about a player. It’s rare, and when he does that means he is thinking bigger and better things.
Laughton has been working his tail off consistently throughout this season, no matter where the coaching staff asks him to play. If they want him to play Center…no problem…play the wing…no problem…top line…no problem. He’s as versatile as they come, and Laughton does his job admirably.
Laughton’s like the energizer bunny, he never takes a shift off. He hits, creates some scoring opportunities, and just busts his butt every single shift. Laughton is one of those players that every team covets, mainly because of his versatility to play any position, and move up and down the lineup if need be, “Kind of laugh every year since I’ve been here, we start him on the fourth line and we almost have internal bets just to put a timeframe on how long it will take for him to move up into the top nine every year,” Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher said of Laughton last year.
Fletcher continued, “That’s Scotty Laughton’s life, I guess. He handles it well. You got to give him credit. One day he’s second line left wing. Next day, he’s fourth line left wing and then he’s third line center. He gives AV that flexibility where you trust him in any situation. You can move him around and it doesn’t impact his play. He’s never pouts and always has a smile on his face. I think he knows that eventually he’ll get the minutes that he traditionally gets.”
One thing every NHL team needs for success are solid bottom 9 and 12 lines. Even though, Laughton may not pot 20-25 goals, he is still very useful, and really makes the bottom 9 and 12 lines thrive. It just makes this young Flyers team that much more difficult to matchup with, and It makes their opponents think twice, as to what defensemen to put on the ice for matchup purposes. He has been playing on the second line for a large part of the season, mainly due to injuries to key players, but he’s filled in admirably.
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Laughton is a player that most teams covet. He’s a professional, he’s a good penalty killer, but most importantly he’s his versatile as they come.
