Scott Laughton’s first stretch with the Kings came fast, and it came with a clear purpose.
Los Angeles didn’t begin the 2025-26 season with Laughton on the roster. He spent most of the year with the Toronto Maple Leafs before the Kings pulled the trigger on March 6, sending a conditional third-round pick in the 2026 NHL draft to Toronto on trade deadline day.
At the time of the deal, Laughton had put up 8 goals and 4 assists for 12 points in 43 games with the Maple Leafs.
Once he arrived in Los Angeles, he gave the Kings exactly what they were after. In 21 regular-season games with the club, Laughton scored 5 goals and added 3 assists for 8 points.
His value went beyond the box score, though. The Kings saw him as a boost to their depth and their penalty kill, and they made it a priority to keep him around.
That led to a 3-year contract with a $3.5 million AAV, a sign of how much the organization believed in what he brought.
The fit made sense for a roster that needed help down the middle. Center depth was already one of the thinner areas on the team, and that became even more pronounced after the retirement of Anze Kopitar. Laughton’s defensive game gives the Kings a player they can lean on at even strength and on the penalty kill, with the trust to handle some of the league’s top offensive threats.
In Other News...
Kings Just Made A Huge Brandt Clarke Commitment
Brandt Clarkes breakthrough season gave the Kings exactly the kind of evidence they needed before making a long-term commitment. The young defenseman played all 82 games in 2025-26, chipped in eight goals and 32 assists, and finished with 40 points while taking on a bigger role at both ends of the ice. He also led Kings defensemen in power play ice time and found real chemistry alongside Joel Edmundson, making himself much harder to leave out of the clubs future plans.
The payoff came this offseason in restricted free agency, when Los Angeles locked Clarke in on a five-year extension after his career year. It is the kind of move that says the organization is no longer just projecting upside, but expecting him to grow into a top-pairing defenseman moving forward. His four playoff games against Colorado offered a smaller sample, but the bigger picture is clear: the Kings have decided Clarke is central to what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Familiar Kings Defenseman Signals End Of A Long LA Chapter
Jacob Moverares time in Southern California has come to an end after the former Kings defenseman moved on in free agency. He became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after not re-signing with Los Angeles, closing the book on a stretch that had him in and out of the NHL lineup while trying to carve out a steadier role.
For the Kings, the departure is another small but meaningful opening on the blue line. Moverare got into 15 games last season and reached a career-high 49 appearances in 2024-25 while Drew Doughty was sidelined, so his exit leaves one more spot for a younger defenseman to push for NHL minutes this season. [Read more 🡒]
Three Young Kings Are Suddenly At The Center Of Everything
The Kings spent the offseason reinforcing the roster with veteran additions, but the more interesting part of the picture is how much of their future now runs through players still on the rise. Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke and Angus Booth all sit in different spots on the depth chart, yet each one now feels closer to the center of the conversation as the organization tries to balance immediate expectations with long-term growth.
Byfield is positioned for a far bigger responsibility down the middle, while Clarkes new extension signals that the blue line is being built around his offensive upside. Booth is a different kind of case, fighting for a depth role and trying to turn every chance into a foothold at the NHL level. For a team that has spent heavily on proven pieces, the next layer of Kings hockey may depend just as much on how quickly these younger players can absorb more of the load. [Read more 🡒]