The Toronto Maple Leafs traded a first-round and Nikita Grebenkin for Scott Laughton at the NHL Trade Deadline this year, which now looks like a mistake.
I know that Scott Laughton has only played five games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and is slowly getting comfortable, but he has 0 points and is currently the team's fourth-line centre. I'm all about going all-in at the Deadline by trading picks and prospects, but why in the world did they trade a first-round pick for a fourth-line centre?
Laughton is a fine player, but the Leafs already have three fourth-line centres on the team right now. They have David Kampf, Max Domi, Pontus Holmberg and now Laughton. It's a rotating four-pack of medicore bottom-six talent who are making way too much money.
By acquiring Laughton, it should have meant the end to Domi and Kampf, which would have opened up $6.15M in salary, but instead it cost them a first-round pick and Fraser Minten, who is essentially Laughton 2.0, or potentially better.
Toronto Maple Leafs will regret trading assets for a fourth line centre
If the Leafs needed to give up a first-round pick as a sweetener for a team to take on Kampf or Domi's contract, then I would have totally been fine with that decision. Instead, the team is not only keeping them, but they'll most likely be playing meaningful minutes when the playoffs start.
As much as Fraser Minten can be looked at as a B-Level prospect, the 20-year-old looked pretty good in the 15 games he played this year. He only scored two goals and registered four points, but based on the offensive output we've seen from Laughton, he's not far off.
That's the problem I currently have with the Minten trade and I truly think it will hurt the Leafs. It may be beginners luck but Minten already has three goals in three games with the Providence Bruins and it'll probably result in another trade that Boston torches the Leafs on.
He's probably not going to turn into a future Hall of Famer, but this Laughton trade is really starting to frustrate me, as well as the rest of the team.
Maybe I'm too quick to blame the GM and his decision to trade big assets for a fourth-line centre, but I think it is a valid argument. When the Tampa Bay Lightning made a similar move for checker Barclay Goodrow they got a much better player than Laughton.
It was a similarly bold move, as Goodrow's career high in goals was eight in a season, but they won back-to-back Stanley Cup's and proved that risk was worth it. Perhaps the Leafs trade for Laughton will have a similar ending, but it is doubtful.
I'm always going to be fine with taking a risk on top-level talent, or trading away a big asset for something you desperately need, but the Leafs didn't need a fourth-line centre. They needed a top-six winger, or a top-two defenseman, which unfortunately Brandon Carlo isn't either.
This year's NHL Trade Deadline may go down as one of the worst in Leafs history.