VOORHEES, N.J. — Danny Briere made the difficult decision to trade Scott Laughton ahead of Friday's 3 p.m. ET deadline.
The Flyers dealt the alternate captain, a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Maple Leafs. In exchange, the Flyers received a conditional 2027 first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin.
Briere is slotted to have six first-round selections over the next three drafts. This summer, he'll seven picks in the first two rounds (three first-rounders, four second-rounders).
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The Flyers are retaining 50 percent of Laughton's remaining salary. He has another year left on his deal, which has a $3 million cap hit. So the Flyers will have his cap hit at $1.5 million this season and next.
The club held Laughton out of practice Friday.
"He is a very good friend of mine, we talked quite a bit this morning," John Tortorella said. "His name's there. I think it has worn on him a little bit, I think there has been some struggles in his game, and I guess rightfully so with all the stuff flying around him, him and his family.
"Like I told him this morning, no matter what happens here today — if you're still with us or you're not — our relationship is always going to be our relationship. That'll never go away. And quite honestly, at the end of the day, when you're done coaching or playing, those are the most important things. That's going to be a guy that I truly respect and love, that is always going to be a part of me."
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Laughton, one of the Flyers' more versatile forwards and a player featuring plenty of intangibles, was in his 12th season with the organization. The Toronto area native had played for the Flyers his entire NHL career, starting as an 18-year-old.
"Danny is listening, he has to listen because we're in that stage, we have to improve our team," Tortorella said last week. "Scotty's loved here, but you can't fall in love."
Unlike last season, the Flyers have spent the majority of this season hovering around .500, giving Briere more reason to make changes for his rebuild. At the end of January, he moved Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost to the Flames, a trade that was about the offseason and future.
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Laughton was one of the Flyers' top trade chips for various reasons. Contending clubs love players like him, guys that play multiple positions, have a playoff edge to their game and kill penalties. Over the last three seasons, the 30-year-old has led the NHL in shorthanded scoring with 17 points (six goals, 11 assists).
Furthermore, Laughton had a team-friendly contract. Through his 12 years with the Flyers, he had become beloved in the locker room and entrenched in the community.
"He's critical to our culture, but if there's something that makes too much sense, it's our duty to listen and to do the right thing for this organization, this team moving forward," Briere said in January. "And I've been very clear with the players, I tell them all the same thing."
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Laughton had endured trade speculation for the last five seasons, going back to when he signed his five-year, $15 million contract extension on the day of the 2021 deadline. Last season, he appreciated the organization's transparent approach.
"Right from the get-go, when my name was in rumors, I got a call from Torts right away, we had a good chat about it," Laughton said last April at his end-of-the-season press conference. "All of them were very upfront with me of kind of what they saw and what they were thinking. I was never in the dark, which was a really good feeling."
With a rebuilding team on track to miss the playoffs for a fifth straight season, which would match the franchise's longest drought, the Flyers eventually made the tough call to move Laughton.
Grebenkin is a 22-year-old winger from Russia. The 2022 fifth-rounder played seven games for the Maple Leafs this season and had 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 39 games for the AHL affiliate Marlies. He'll report to the Phantoms.