The Toronto Maple Leafs dealt Scott Laughton to the LA Kings at Friday’s NHL trade deadline. The Leafs managed to get the trade under the wire, completing it prior to the official closing of the trade window.
The return is certainly an underwhelming one. Toronto managed to recoup a third-round pick for Laughton. If the Kings make the playoffs this season, the pick coverts to a second.
Kings give a conditional 3rd for Laughton, becomes a 2nd if the Kings make the playoffs. https://t.co/gek03yBazt
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) March 6, 2026
That’s a far cry from the hefty price the team paid at last year’s trade deadline. But it makes total sense. Friday’s Laughton trade is a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy. In short, the Leafs tried to recoup what they spent on Laughton last season. But as the sunk cost fallacy states, you’ll never get that cost back.
You can only get what the market will handle at the time.
A good example is a car. When you buy a car, you will never sell it for the same price you bought it for. The depreciation on the car makes the value go down.
That’s what happened here. The LA Kings needed a center; they made an offer, and the Maple Leafs were in a situation where they had to take it or leave it.
For the Kings, this was a good move. For the Leafs, the club’s depth down the middle will now be nonexistent. After Auston Matthews and John Tavares, two new centers will take over. It remains to be seen who those centers will be.
In the meantime, Brad Treliving did his job. He dumped the team’s impending UFAs, getting back whatever he could.
Moving forward, the Leafs will need to figure out what they can do with the pieces they got. It might not be a boatload of picks and prospects, but it’s far more than the team had going into this year’s trade deadline.
The remainder of the season, unfortunately, will not be pretty for Maple Leafs fans. So, extreme patience is advised.