The Senators were rumoured to be interested in Laughton sometime around the draft.

The Flyers apparently turned down two late 1st round picks, or the equivalent to that.

This trade is basically Zibanejad for Brassard 2.0. There is pressure for the Senators to make the playoffs and compete. Laughton is the better player than Pinto right now and is cost controlled at a low cap hit relative to what he brings. In the case of Brassard, it was salary.

The Senators add in a 2nd, partly for cap considerations with Joseph going to PHI. Brannstrom is neutral/low value.

Not a trade I would make, but I could see Dorion doing something like this if his only other option under the cap is to sign Pinto to a 1 year contract that will guarantee they lose Pinto next year as he might be in a position to ask for top 6 money if he has another strong season.

An alternative would be to bring Boston into the deal and make it a 3-way trade with Boston sending a cap dump like Grzelcyk to the Flyers, along with picks/prospects that the Flyers might prefer over Pinto.

If the Flyers already turned down 2 late 1sts then they won't accept a worse offer where they take on overpaid fringe forward Joseph and Brannstrom the bust.

Pinto > Laughton. Terrible deal for the Sens

Pinto's massive breakout for a whole 35 points last year and extensive injury history make that clearly obvious.

Ok, enough sarcasm. Pinto's youth and lower cost probably do make him worth slightly more but not enough to offset Philly taking on Joseph and Brannstrom. And no the 2nd doesn't make up for that either.

delete

That 35 points would be the 2nd highest total of Laughton’s 10 year career. Laughton isn’t that good, he’s an okay 3rd liner. The fact that Briere reportedly turned down a 1st + 2nd for him is egregious

Also Brannstrom isn’t a cap dump. He’s a solid dman. Joseph is a dump but I’d say a 2nd to dump him would be fair

True story....43 points last season is a career high. And he has never scored 20G in a season...and his injury history is way worse than Pinto's - although Shane is trying to give him a run for his money on the injury front....

I would take Pinto in a heartbeat over Laughton, and roll the dice on his shoulder holding up...Briere should have have some serious remorse if he TRUTHFULLY (not this "rumored" crap) turned down even one 1st round pick for Laughton

Pinto is worth more than two late 1st round picks.

He does not have an extensive injury history. He missed one season with a shoulder injury. I don't recall him having any major injuries or red flags during college. He bounced back fine from the shoulder injury and was healthy last season.

He is an exceptional two-way center who is great on faceoffs and scored 20 goals as a rookie. Laughton is the better player right now, but Pinto is only scratching the surface. Laughton is underpaid for the next 3 seasons, but Pinto has more team control at 5 more years as an RFA and could likely be signed to a deal that in a year or two will look better than the Laughton one.

This would not be a deal I would want to see the Senators make, it's the type of deal I could see them looking for if they feel that the salary cap will make it difficult to keep Pinto on anything other than a 1 year deal. The problem with a 1 year deal this season is that it sets them up to lose Pinto anyways next season if they want to prioritize keeping Tarasenko (which Dorion likely does since he originally offered him a long term deal). I think Dorion's ideal move is to dump Joseph and sign Pinto to a 2-3 year bridge deal that will cost control him until the cap rises. If that isn't possible because the cost to move Joseph independent of including him in a Pinto deal is too high, then maybe they will bundle both of them and trade for a cost controlled replacement for Pinto. That is what this proposal is.

If they were actually offered 2 first round picks, it was likely a situation like Colorado or St.Louis, where the picks were right at the end of the round. That would still be an inflated return, but it's not as insane as it sounds. Consider how coveted the style of game he plays is, and the fact that he is cost controlled for 3 more seasons at only 3M. As a free agent, he'd likely get 4.5M or more.

That much I agree with but I wouldn't take on Joseph or Brannstrom as part of the deal.

And then there's the usual wall of text from budgetteam.



No he's not.



In 3 years he's only played 99 games 82 of them last year. A shoulder injury that causes a young player to miss an entire year is a big problem. Claiming he bounced back fine is disingenuous. 35 points would be pretty decent if he was a 3rd line player for the entire year but considering how much time he spent in the top 6 due to the even more injury prone Josh Norris missing all but 8 games 35 points isn't very good at all.



Again no. Pinto is not an exceptional two way center etc... 20 goals and 35 points would be fine for a bottom 6 player but Pinto spent a lot of time in the top 6 last year with Norris out. He was -21 last year 3rd worst on the team very far from an "exceptional two-way center". He hasn't been great on faceoffs in the NHL either. Last year was his best year in the NHL at 52.1% that's decent but you didn't say he was decent on faceoffs you said he was great.



Philly is not going to give up a cost controlled gritty forward for a questionable pending RFA if it means losing ~2mil in cap space by taking on 2 cap dumps and having to resign Pinto too. Joseph is a severely overpaid fringe player who wouldn't even be the 13th forward on most teams. Brannstrom is a bust and an arbitration eligible pending RFA (iow another contract headache) who's going to want a raise he doesn't deserve next year.

There's always a catch or three with your walls of text. It's never what you make it out to be.

@MoxNix I was just talking about Pinto v. Laughton; and some of the inflated prices for Laughton. He is a bottom six player on almost every team, and given his own injury history I am question if he is worth the 3M/year. Healthy, and I would say absolutely. But his ability to stay healthy has been a significant issue for him unfortunately.

I agree but this still isn't a deal that makes sense for Philly. Too much cap coming back with Joseph and Brannstrom in it plus they'll need to extend Pinto too which is why Ottawa wants to move him.

Agreed