Pending UFA Scott Laughton speaks about his future with the Maple Leafs

As the Toronto Maple Leafs face a tough decision about whether or not to wave the white flag, one player who has been talked about a lot recently is Scott Laughton

A pending free agent, he's been a solid part of the team's bottom-six and one of the few bright spots in an otherwise miserable season.

But the two haven't even started extension talks and if Laughton's price becomes too steep for Toronto to pay, then he could be traded twice in two years.

However that doesn't seem to really bother Laughton and he's made it clear that he wants to stick around:

Laughton mentioned that he's really found a home in Toronto and being a hometown kid playing for his childhood team sure plays a part.

It might also be the only way they can get him signed back on the cheap. We've seen John Tavares and Steven Lorentz take hometown discounts, meanwhile Matthew Knies and Anthony Stolarz both signed for less than expected.

Laughton loves being here, the city and his teammates so it might be easier for Toronto to keep him around.

You might be looking at $2-2.5M for Laughton which is still a fair bargain for a player who can do so much both on and off the ice however if there are teams that could use him and his price creeps towards that $3-million or higher range then it may be best to say goodbye.

Unless they can get a commitment from Laughton to leave town for assets, refuse to extend with his new team and come back cheaper in free agency then it could be a lot of money and risk running into a David Kampf situation.

But the fact of the matter is that Scott Laughton loves being a Toronto Maple Leafs and the team loves to have him.

It's just a matter of whether he's an unfortunate casualty of past mismanagement which might lead him to a much shorter stay than first anticipated.

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