QUICK HITS: MAY 30, 2018
1) Flyers center/left winger Scott Laughton celebrates his 24th birthday today. Drafted by the Flyers with the 20th overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, Laughton has played 190 NHL regular season games to date (19 goals, 47 points) as well as nine playoff games (one goal).
While Laughton's roster spot for next year is relatively safe, his role has to be determined. Will he play center, where he's spent most of his pro career, or will be play wing? Will he be play on the third line or the fourth line at even strength? The spot he's penciled into will largely depend on what else the Flyers do this season, including whether the team brings in a third line center replacement for Valtteri Filppula, re-signs Filppula, and/or makes other additions to the bottom six of the forward lineup.
This past season, Laughton appeared in 81 of 82 regular season games, chipping in 10 goals (an NHL career-high to date) and 20 points while mostly playing fourth-line center. Early in the season, he was the backbone of a regular line with Michael Raffl and Taylor Leier. As the season progressed, Laughton played with a variety of different linemates.
In the Flyers six-game loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs, Laughton was quietly among the Flyers more effective forwards. At head coach Dave Hakstol's exit day press conference on April 26, the coach made a point of singling out Laughton for praise after expressing overall disappointment with the team's performance in the series.
"You look at some of the guys that don’t get a lot of spotlight. I thought one of the guys who had a really solid series was Scotty Laughton. So you’re starting to talk about some of those important pieces that play a role, some of those players, I think we have a lot of that on our roster," Hakstol said.
"I believe we've got a couple young players that probably have the opportunity to make an impact on our team next year. They’re gonna have to prove that in training camp so I think we can continue to improve from that aspect."
2) The 2018 NHL Draft Combine is taking place in Buffalo this week at the KeyBank Center and the HarborCenter. With the Flyers holding three picks in the top 50 of the upcoming 2018 NHL Draft -- the 14th, 19th and 50th overall -- and selections in every round except the 3rd, they have a large pool of potential draftees to meet with during the interview portion of the Combine.
3) It does not appear as if the Flyers will sign 2016 sixth-round draft pick Anthony Salinitri to an entry-level contract prior to the June 1 expiration of their hold on his signing rights. He can re-enter the NHL Draft or pursue free agent opportunities. If Salintri cannot land an NHL, minor league or European contract, he is eligible to play an overage junior season in 2018-19.
The speedy winger, who turned 20 on March 5, has played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey league, including the last three and a half seasons with the Sarnia Sting. In each of the last two seasons, he posted 58 points during the regular season (including 28 goals in 2016-17 and 27 goals this year). He was fourth on the Sting in scoring this season.
Salinitri's playoff run was abbreviated this year, as he suffered a collarbone injury in Game 3 of the Sting's first-round playoff series with the Windsor Spitfires. Sarnia lost in the second round to the Kitchener Rangers.
4) Today in Flyers History: On May 30, 1990, the Flyers completed a major three-team trade with the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.
On the front end of the deal, the Flyers traded power forward Scott Mellanby, enforcer Craig Berube and young left winger Craig Fisher to the Oilers. In return, the Flyers obtained the NHL rights to Hall of Fame right winger Jari Kurri, received hard-shooting defenseman Corey Foster and reacquired tough guy right winger Dave Brown.
Kurri, who had played in Switzerland during the 1990-91 season, wanted to come back to the NHL specifically to be reunited with his longtime Oilers linemate, Wayne Gretzky. This was the key to the back end of the trade.
The Flyers flipped Kurri's rights to LA along with hard-nosed defenseman Jeff Chychrun. In return, the Flyers received star offensive defenseman Steve Duchesne, checking forward Steve Kasper and a 1991 fourth round pick (defenseman Aris Brimanis).