{"id":432408,"date":"2026-01-28T11:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T11:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/432408\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T11:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T11:47:22","slug":"scott-laughton-could-see-himself-with-toronto-maple-leafs-long-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/432408\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Laughton could see himself with Toronto Maple Leafs ‘long-term\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran forward Scott Laughton<\/a> is open to re-signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> as he gets closer to hitting unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career this summer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI could see myself being here long-term,\u201d Laughton told The Athletic in a story posted Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Laughton opted to sign a five-year, $15 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> three months before hitting free agency in 2021, a deal that is now coming to an end. He was flipped to the Maple Leafs ahead of the trade deadline last year, with Philadelphia retaining half of his $3 million cap hit in a deal to acquire forward Nikita Grebenkin<\/a> and a 2027 first-round pick. <\/p>\n

The 31-year-old centre posted two goals and four points in 20 games upon joining the Maple Leafs last season, adding two assists in 13 games during the playoffs. <\/p>\n

He has made a more significant impact this season, posting eight goals and 10 points in 34 games and leading all forwards with an average of 2:13 of ice time shorthanded per game. That number stands out more when compared to Laughton\u2019s 13:45 of total average ice time per game. <\/p>\n

While the Oakville, Ont. native can see a future with the Maple Leafs, it remains unclear what direction the franchise will take as the team remains at risk of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016. <\/p>\n

Entering a crucial game Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres<\/a>, Toronto has a 24-19-9 record to sit six points back of the Boston Bruins<\/a> for the final wild-card spot with one game in hand. <\/p>\n

For his part, Laughton, who believes he has \u201ca ton of good years left,\u201d said he believes the Maple Leafs remain a contender. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in this team to win. That\u2019s a big part of it at this point in my career,\u201d Laughton explained. \u201cI\u2019ve fallen in love with the guys, too. There\u2019s a lot of guys who care here. It\u2019s been special for me this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s game will mark the first of five games the Maple Leafs have left before the Olympic break. After that, Toronto will have six games before the March 6 trade deadline when play resumes on Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

In addition to Laughton, forwards Bobby McMann<\/a> and Calle Jarnkrok<\/a> are all also slated for unrestricted free agency this summer, along with defenceman Troy Stecher<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran forward Scott Laughton is open to re-signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as he gets closer to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4759,5,4,42235,32467],"class_list":{"0":"post-432408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-scott-laughton-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8476872","12":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115972567872932012","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}