The Flyers were out on the ice Friday in Voorhees, with the writing on the wall.
Scott Laughton wasn't out there. Neither was Andrei Kuzmenko. And John Tortorella didn't do much to dance around the reality when it was time for him to speak to the media as the players were skating.
He said he was told that Kuzmenko was dealt to Los Angeles on his way up to the media room, which more or less confirmed that trade ahead of its official announcement. Then the conversation steered to Laughton, and all the rumors that have swirled around the veteran center for weeks.
"He's a very good friend of mine," the Flyers' head coach said. "We've talked quite a bit this morning… His name's there… I think it's worn on him a little bit. I think there's been some struggles in his game. I guess rightfully so with all the stuff flying around him.
"But that – like, I told him this morning: No matter what happens here today, if you're still with us, or you're not, our relationship's always gonna be our relationship. That will 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 gonna be a guy that I truly respect and love. That is always going to be part of me."
The writing was on the wall.
The Flyers left the ice altogether and quickly. Not long after, word broke that Laughton was going to Toronto, along with a 2025 fourth- and 2027 sixth-round draft pick for Maple Leafs forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin and a top-10 protected first-rounder in 2027 (with 50 percent of Laughton's $3 million cap hit for this season and the next being retained by Philadelphia).
A work crew came by to take a banner down over the rink at the Flyers Training Center that featured Laughton's picture.
The 30-year-old, and a former first-round pick by the Flyers, had been here for 12 years and grew into one of the key figures within the team's locker room as the organization fell into its current rebuilding path. Philadelphia was the only city he's ever known in the NHL.
But the writing was on the wall. It was time to move on.
"Trading Scott Laughton was one of the most difficult things I've probably ever had to do as a GM," Danny Brière said after Friday's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline passed, lamenting everything that Laughton had come to mean to the Flyers – from teammates to coaches – and the surrounding community.
The Leafs are a contender, though, and can use Laughton in their bottom six for the playoffs. Their offer to the Flyers for the Ontario native, for where they're at and where they're trying to go, was just too good, also. They had to take it.
"It was tough to let him go," Brière said. "Their return was amazing, and on top of it, giving him the chance to go play for his hometown team, I think, is pretty cool."
It was the writing on the wall, and another step that will push the Flyers into the next phase of their rebuild.
Re-establishing a solid culture was a main priority for the organization when Tortorella took over as coach a few years ago and then Brière as the GM about a year after. Throughout, Laughton was a major presence in getting the Flyers on the right path while helping the younger pieces of the potential next core learn how to be pros.
But eventually, that next core was going to develop enough to the point where they could (and would be expected to) carry the torch themselves.
Now, for players like Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink, and rising star Matvei Michkov, it's time.
"There's no doubt that it's a little scary," Brière said of leaving the locker room without Laughton. "But at some point, too, you gotta let some of the young guys start to take over.
"We thank Scott for everything that he's done. Hopefully he leaves a print on our locker room, and you see some of the young guys taking a step this year. You think about Noah Cates, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, they've all elevated their play, and you hope that they can use what they've learned from Scott."
It also might be getting close to time for the Flyers to start adding, not subtracting anymore.
They kept stocked up on draft picks between the Kuzmenko trade with LA and the Laughton trade with the Leafs, and Brière said they're excited about Grebenkin as a player the scouts zeroed in on as talks with Toronto progressed.
"They valued him more than a third-round pick," Brière said, who later added that the plan for the 21-year-old winger is for him to start with the Phantoms in the AHL for now. "I don't know how soon he's going ot play, but we certainly see him as a future Flyer."
- MORE FLYERS
- NHL Trade Deadline: Flyers trade Scott Laughton to Maple Leafs for prospect, first-round pick
- NHL Trade Deadline: Flyers trade Erik Johnson back to Avalanche for F Givani Smith
- Flyers future draft picks
Notably, Rasmus Ristolainen is being kept in the picture, too.
The big, right-handed defenseman was another name that often popped up in rumors as the deadline period wore on, but as the clock ticked down, noise on him settled as well.
He survived the deadline, and the Flyers are alright with him sticking around a bit longer. His defensive play has improved significantly in the past two years under Tortorella and associate coach Brad Shaw, and when the Flyers are finally ready to compete for the playoffs again, they want what he brings to the table.
"We see him as a guy that you get in the playoffs, he becomes very valuable," Brière said of Ristolainen. "I know he's never played there, but the type of hockey that he plays, the physicality, the size that he brings, and now on top of it, the way he kills plays with his stick, the way he skates the puck out of trouble, he's chipping in on offensively, he's the guy that when you're on the ice against him, you're on your heels a little bit."
"We feel that if we traded out of our top six, or our top four, it would leave a huge hole," Brière continued. "That's why we never considered anything serious. Teams were just not willing to pay what we felt the return was in the end for us."
That does leave a defensive logjam ahead for prospects on their way up, like Emil Andrae, who has already made a somewhat of a foothold in the NHL, but Brière said when an on the rise name proves ready, they'll figure out how to make room somehow.
They're also keeping an eye out now for when it will be time to start really diving into free agency.
The Flyers will still be paying Laughton into next year, but dead money is gradually going to come off the books, and cap space will free up, all as the current wave of draft classes – Michkov's in 2023, Jett Luchanko's in 2024, and this summer's for 2025 – put together the bulk of their youth.
"There's going to be a little opening this year," Brière said. "And it's possible that we're able to do some things, but I don't know particularly yet."
They will eventually, though.
The Laughton goodbye was tough, but it is going to move the rebuild along.
It was the writing on the wall.
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