PHILADELPHIA – Scott Laughton was 26 when he signed his latest five-year contract with the Flyers, never expecting how it would all look like when he was 27.
He was entering his prime, and the Flyers still had reason to believe they were, too. Alain Vigneault was still the coach, Sean Couturier was still healthy and Carter Hart was still valued, even if he was having a difficult season. Then there was Claude Giroux, talented and willing, a franchise treasure and forever captain.
The 2021 Flyers’ season was nothing special. Pathetic would be a fair description. But there were enough young-ish players and accumulated hockey achievements to expect better in 2022, and Laughton was anxious to see what was next. So he enlisted through 2026, never expecting that, a year later, there he would be, the latest lead-by-example leader in a string of plenty.
A Flyer, basically. The old kind of Flyer.
“I think any opportunity you have to throw on the Flyers logo, I think it’s pretty special,” Laughton was saying Tuesday, after a morning skate. “And it’s definitely a big honor.”
From some, that would be a bit of a cliché at this point, a wrinkled reference to when the Stanley Cup was always a possibility and appearances in the Cup Final were common. It hasn’t been that way for years, is not likely to be that way soon, and was anything but that way this season, when Vigneault was fired, Giroux was traded, Couturier was damaged and there were too many nights when it was impossible to distinguish the Flyers from the Phantoms.
But Laughton meant what he said on the morning of a low-meaning visit from the Columbus Blue Jackets, just as he meant it over the weekend when he was badgering Mike Yeo to write him onto the lineup sheet. Sure, he had just been cleared to play after a head injury and Yeo was being careful, but the Maple Leafs were in before the Flyers were due the next day in Madison Square Garden. So assign him a line to center and have a jug of aspirin at the ready.
“That’s definitely a conversation that was had,” Laughton said. “But when you are dealing with the head, it’s a little different than having a broken foot or something like that. There is no timeline on it.”
By Tuesday, though, he was out of both pain and patience, so he would be ready to dress for the Blue Jackets game, a mementos event or not.
“You want to be playing and you want to be a part of what is going to happen in the future,” he said. “So I think, for as many games as we have left, that I want to be a part of that and try and help the young guys as much as I can, and to try and be an influence.”
Since Giroux was on the final year of his contract, it was obvious all season that he would have to be exchanged at the trade deadline for anything of value. With that, there would be season-long murmurs about the next captain. When Yeo sent Laughton’s jersey to the equipment room with an work order to have an “A” stitched on the heart side, it was a strong hint that the ninth-year Flyer was a candidate. So inspired, Laughton went on a six-game points streak, then continued to project leadership qualities that would not leave him out of place on a list that includes Bobby Clarke, Dave Poulin, Keith Primeau and Eric Lindros.
“He was playing at a really, really high level when he left,” Yeo said. “And we really missed him in our lineup in a number of ways. Obviously, with the departure of ‘G’ we’ve talked a lot about leadership and guys stepping up. And, Laughts, for me, all year has really emerged as a leader for our group. He’s one of our more vocal guys and obviously a real competitor in the way he plays the game, a guy that drags people into the fight and plays the game the right way.”
Laughton was a 2012 first-round draft choice and has never scored more than 13 goals in a season, thus disqualifying him from franchise-legend status. But he will accept a fight, either literally or in a hockey sense. And if that means playing for the first time since March 10, even in a fractured season, that’s what he would do.
“I think our team is game is getting better,” Laughton had said, days before his injury in Florida. “We’re better defensively, staying tighter. And guys are buying in, blocking shots and doing the things that we need to win.”
He’s not giving up, not with a recent history of a headache, not with little more to gain in a season.
The Flyers don’t have a coach, a roster or a plan for 2022-23, but they might already have a captain.
Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@21st-centurymedia.com
