Scott Laughton Jersey Card

Philadelphia Flyers fans were ecstatic when the team announced they had called up Scott Laughton to fill in for injured captain Claude Giroux tonight against the New York Rangers - although that was before Giroux decided to play, so I'm not sure how that turned out, other than the Blueshirts having won 2-0, and Laughton playing less than 10 minutes after getting called on a tripping penalty.

Laughton was slated to play on a fast and offense-minded third line in between Vincent Lecavalier and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare. It was his first NHL game in two years, as he already had 5 games under his belt from 2012-13 when he was still junior-aged; he spent all of last season in the OHL, and had 11 points (5 goals) in 13 games with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms so far this year, as the Flyers expected when they chose him with the 20th overall pick in the 2012 draft.

His 40 goals and 87 points in 54 games in Juniors with the Oshawa Generals last year with 72 penalty minutes were a clear sign that if he adds 15-20 pounds to his 6'1'', 180-pound frame, he will become the type of player the Broad Street Bullies have always loved to have: speedy, smart, gritty and talented. I see him developing as a Mike Richards-type of player, perhaps a little less talented offensively - a second-line center on an average team, a third-line center on a Stanley Cup contender.

I knew when I pulled this card from a pack of Upper Deck's 2013-14 SP Game-Used Edition some six months ago that if I didn't pull any more of his cards or got any signed by him that it would at least make for good trade bait, as he may the most prized prospect the Flyers have had since since Giroux; it's card #RF-SL of the Rookie Fabrics sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Flyers' current/retro white (away) uniform that's somewhat rare on cards, with a black swatch from the sleeves of a jersey worn in a photoshoot.