Laughton Makes Final Roster… For Now

Five o’clock has come and past and NHL rosters for the 2013-14 season have all been submitted to the league offices. Scott Laughton, the first round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2012, has made the roster as the fourth line center.

Or has he? The 19-year old, who carries a salary cap hit of just over $1.1 million, can play up to nine games this season before his entry level contract officially kicks in. At that time, the organization can send him back to the Oshawa Generals of the OHL, where his contract will “slide” for another year (barring a call-up down the road).

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren has made numerous statements over the last six months about where he felt Laughton stood with the team, and the decision to keep him on the roster for opening night isn’t that surprising.

In five games with the Flyers during the shortened 2013 season, Laughton was unable to score his first NHL point. He had no shortage of talent on his wings, playing predominantly with Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds, but his first cup of coffee in the big leagues was rather quiet.

In his defense (no pun intended), head coach Peter Laviolette started Laughton almost exclusively in the defensive zone. Per Behind the Net, Laughton began his shifts in the offensive zone just 29% of the time. Only Adam Hall was used in a more offensively-limiting role, starting just 16% (!) of his shifts at the other end of the rink.

Speaking of Hall, the 33-year old veteran face-off man has been sent to the Adirondack Phantoms of the AHL along with defenseman Bruno Gervais. Both Gervais and Hall cleared waivers, so the organization may recall them at a later date without fear of losing them to the waiver wire (since abolished with the latest collective bargaining agreement).

How Laughton performs at the beginning of the season will be critical in determining whether it’s worth it in the long run to keep him with the Flyers. If he can earn meaningful minutes centering a third line with talented players, then sure, there is value in exposing him to better competition and bigger challenges.

Come Wednesday, however, Laughton will be playing limited minutes on the fourth line, flanked by agitator Zac Rinaldo and enforcer Jay Rosehill. In this context, there can be no expectations for him beyond keeping the puck out of his own net. He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get dragged into a line brawl in the home opener against the Leafs.

Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly reported that the organization believes, as of 5:00, that it is $25,000 under the salary cap (success!). This is just enough for them to hit the cap number, place defenseman Chris Pronger on long-term-injury reserve (LTIR), and open up space for additional players as needed.

Keep in mind that with LTIR, the amount that is exceeded over the cap at the end of the year becomes a penalty for the following season. Using Pronger’s situation to gain cap space is only going to punish them later.

Unfortunately, the market for defenseman Andrej Meszaros is virtually nonexistent. There were rumors over the weekend that a trade was in the works with the Colorado Avalanche, but that opportunity failed to come to fruition.

Per Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, former Stanley Cup winning goaltender Patrick Roy, now head coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Avalanche, said on Sunday, “Right now, the problem in the NHL is there are a lot of teams that are close to the cap. They’re trying to unload that player that basically no one wants. That’s no help for us.”

Ouch. Wonder who he’s talking about?

If Hall were to replace Laughton as the fourth line center after nine days, the team would save about $500K, helping reduce their cap issues at the end of the season. It might just be the better fit for the team in the long run then squander Laughton’s inexpensive contract now, when the organization has it’s top three centers locked up for the foreseeable future.