Toronto Maple Leafs fans on social media have expressed frustration with the team’s management as Scott Laughton shines for the LA Kings following the trade.
The Maple Leafs sent Laughton to the Kings in exchange for a conditional 2026 third-round draft pick at the trade deadline. While with the Leafs this season, Laughton had a modest and underperforming campaign, recording 8 goals and 12 points in 43 games.
Since joining the Kings, however, Scott Laughton has scored twice in as many games. His immediate impact in LA has drawn significant attention and sparked regret among Leafs fans, with some calling it proof of mismanagement in his usage.
One tweeted:
“Bérubé has ruined the Leafs. It’s all about style of play.”
Another chimed in:
“Shows how incompetent Berube and Tre are. Unbelievable. Everyone else knew he should be playing a top 9 role.”
Here are some of the other top reactions on X:
“Same player. Different coach. Different system. It’s not Laughton. It’s Berube. Time to part ways. Fire him. Now!” a third fan wrote.
“Fire the coach who clearly doesn’t know how to use his players. And fire the GM for giving away a 1st and a young player for this guy and then flipping him for a 3rd. It’s embarrassing and indefensible,” one X user wrote.
“Berube and Treliving – man oh man; did they ever run this team into the ground,” another chimed in.
“Why are you surprised Berube didn’t use Laughton right,” added another.
Scott Laughton shines as LA Kings down Blue Jackets in OT
Scott Laughton opened the scoring for the Kings, putting them ahead 1-0 at 6:46 of the first period. Artemi Panarin increased the lead to 2-0 at 14:48 before Conor Garland cut the deficit to 2-1 for Columbus going into the second period.
Denton Mateychuk tied it 2-2 for the Blue Jackets at 10:53 of the second period. Garland scored his second to make it 3-2 before Adrian Kempe’s goal tied it 3-3 for LA.
In the third period, Brian Dumoulin restored the Kings’ lead to 4-3. Kiril Marchenko scored on the power play to tie it 4-4 for the Blue Jackets before heading into overtime, where Kempe scored the winner for LA.
Edited by Abhishek Dilta
