Flyers extend contract of Laughton; deal Raffl, Gustaffson

The Flyers were buyers and sellers before the Monday trade deadline.

Instead of importing a superstar, the Flyers extended the contract of their most tradable commodity, veteran forward Scott

Laughton.

Laughton got a five-year, $15 million pact that appealed to him and the Flyers, who likely got a hometown discount because of the outside interest teams had in bringing him on for a playoff run.

The Flyers also dealt 32-year-old left winger Michael Raffl to the Washington

Capitals for a fifthround pick, league sources confirmed. The Caps are tied for the East lead and just a few years removed from their first Stanley Cup.

Additionally the Flyers got a sevent-round choice from Montreal for defenseman Erik Gustafsson. The Flyers also will pay half of Gustafsson’s remaining salary. He was under contract for $1.5 million this season.

The $3 million annual salary is a modest increase over the $2.3 million checks Laughton has been cashing this season. Not bad for a player who never has registered more than 13 goals or 32 points in parts of eight NHL seasons, the last four in a full-time role.

Laughton’s deal runs through 2025-26. The salary matches the reasonable money paid to Oskar Lindblom and could have Laughton, 26, looking over his shoulder the next four or five trade deadlines.

At the same time, Laughton has stability, which is more than you can say for a chunk of the very ordinary roster that collectively is 19-16-6, good for 44 points, tied with the New York Rangers and four points behind the fourth and final playoff berth in the East.

This season Laughton has seven goals and 17 points in 38 games for a Flyers team that since the beginning of March, has won just eight of 24 games.