Scott Laughton trade creates bizarre reality: Maple Leafs fans now need to cheer for the Senators

When Toronto traded Laughton to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday afternoon, it ended the very short tenure of the Oakville, Ontario native in his hometown colours. While bittersweet for Laughton, it was a move that felt inevitable although his return may have been higher had Toronto been more proactive, especially seeing as they gave up a first-rounder and Nikita Grebenkin last year for him.

It's a conditional third-round pick that ends up becoming a second-rounder if Los Angeles makes the playoffs. That's certainly not a guarantee however with a wide-open Pacific Division, it's about a good a chance as any other team (though will need to fight off former teammate Bobby McMann in Seattle).

But it also brings forth one of the most complex, confusing, and perplexing draft scenarios in a long time, and it means that Maple Leafs fans will have to make a shift for the last few games -- and hope their provincial rivals go on a tear.

So let's break it down and see what exactly is going on with the Maple Leafs and their draft picks.

Keep it simple to start. Los Angeles makes the playoffs? That conditional pick becomes Buffalo's second-rounder which was acquired in the Warren Foegele deal ahead of the deadline.

That's Toronto's best possible option as it gives them a pick in the first two rounds this year, where otherwise they have none. It's also the only scenario out of the three that will be presented that doesn't involve Atlantic Division shuffling.

Having an asset to actually draft with or use in a potential trade is key, and they could package it along with their 2027 first-rounder only if it brings them a true superstar or elite offensive defenceman.

But right now, the team is hoping that Laughton can be the lynchpin defensively to help the Kings sneak into the playoffs and give the Maple Leafs a bit easier time at the draft.

This is where it gets a little complex (and frustrating for Leafs fans). In this scenario, if Los Angeles misses the playoffs, it's a third-round pick but all depending on if Ottawa or Washington (or both) make the postseason.

LA received Ottawa's 2026 third-rounder in the Foegele deal with the condition that they would receive either the Senators or Capitals third-rounder, whichever is the better of the two.

Now, in order for that to happen that means Ottawa needs to finish higher than Washington regardless, and the bigger gap they can create; the better.

But that also means Maple Leafs fans are going to be wanting Ottawa to win games. In this weird 2025-26 season that seems to have flipped things on its head, The Battle of Ontario is seemingly put aside for the sake of the future.

Stanuch loyalists won't want the Senators to sniff a win in order to stick it to their rivals, but in the interest of bettering the team? It might be Go Sens Go for the next month and a half.

Well, this is the worst case scenario by far. All three teams missing the playoffs means not only does Toronto get only a third rounder, but it's the worst of the two standings. It's not like Washington or Ottawa are on a tear and both teams are literally tied in the standings.

This could come down to a Game 82 situation where Toronto won't know what their pick is until the end of the season, making an already tense and stressful situation much more tiresome for fans and management.

I mean, it's still a pick regardless and we've seen some diamonds in the rough come out of the later rounds. But Toronto's draft history is spotty at best, and unless there's the second-coming of Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg kicking around; who knows how valuable that pick actually ends up being.

So with all that being said, the best case scenario for Toronto is to simply hope that the Kings did enough to get into the playoffs despite being semi-sellers at the deadline dealing Foegele and Corey Perry away.

The likelier scenario is we are going to wait until things go down to the wire, and hope that the Senators are able to take a bit of control and sneak themselves into the postseason.

We've come a long way from the heated Battle of Ontario rivalry and Maple Leafs fans may have to hop on a bandwagon temporarily just to hope their team actually finds a benefit out of their mismanagement and when Brad Treliving said his future was up to 'others to judge' -- they may circle back and see what went wrong with this trade.

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