Ahead of the 2025-26 season kicking off, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Friday that they would be starting the season without depth forward Scott Laughton, who suffered a lower-body injury in their preseason contest against the Detroit Red Wings Thursday night. As of now, Laughton is listed as week-to-week.
The Maple Leafs seemingly had their opening night roster playing against the Red Wings, with Laughton on a line with Steven Lorentz and Easton Cowan. However, with the injury news, that opens the door for David Kämpf to inch his way back into a possible opening night spot.
“It’s a tough loss for him and us,” said head coach Craig Berube. “It’s a bad break. He’s had a real good camp. Yeah, it’s tough for everybody.”
As for Laughton, he was having a good start to the preseason after calling himself out for the way that he finished the season in 2024-25 following the trade that sent him from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Maple Leafs.
Laughton finished the year with just two goals and four points in 20 games to close out the regular season before the team was ousted in the second round of the playoffs by the eventual Stanley Cup winning Florida Panthers.
“It was hard,” he said candidly about the trade to the Maple Leafs. “The hardest part was, for sure, leaving Philly. You grew up there, and we had our kid there, and everything like that. You build something there, and I think you’re so ingrained in being a Flyer. So, to come here was a different feeling.”
In 681 career regular season games, Laughton has 108 goals and 269 points, but has established himself as a strong shutdown option as a depth forward. His defensive zone play has led him to become one of the more coveted options as that kind of role player and is exactly why the Maple Leafs went after him at last season’s trade deadline.
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While disappointing for the team, the injury does give the Maple Leafs more time to figure out what to do with players like Kämpf, Nicholas Robertson and Calle Järnkrok when the lineup is fully healthy again. For now, Laughton joins goaltender Joseph Woll as two eventual regulars who won’t start the season with the team.
