Thursday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks will mark the tenth game for Scott Laughton as a Toronto Maple Leaf. It hasn’t gone well. Through nine games, Laughton has been held pointless and sits at a minus five over that stretch. His ice time is under 13 minutes a night, which barely qualifies as third-line ice time and instead reflects that Craig Berube has had to split Laughton’s usage between the bottom two lines and has been making appearances on the wing as well.

It is one thing to say that players need time to adapt to their new team, but at this point, you have to make some giant leaps to say nice things about his time in Toronto. It’s great that he’s been hitting people, and his faceoff winning percentage is solid, but beyond that, “disastrous” is probably the most fitting label for Laughton’s time in Toronto.

The Sharks, a team that is clearly having a bad time this year, present a great opportunity for Laughton to turn things around. You could argue that his former club, the Flyers, also presented that opportunity for breaking out with the Leafs tagging them for seven goals, but Laughton once again didn’t find the scoresheet. If the same is true against the Sharks, it is time to consider the press box for Scott Laughton.

Taking a step back for a second, I want to say that I do believe that Laughton is a very good bottom-six player. He’s struggling, and some of those struggles come from John Tortorella being very different from most NHL coaches and Laughton having deep roots in the Philadelphia organization. He can be a solid two-way player in the middle of the lineup and will be again, it’s just that he seems lost. Putting him in the press box is as much about resetting him and using it as a learning opportunity as it is telling him he’s been playing substandard hockey. It shouldn’t be an issue to tell a 30-year-old veteran on a pointless streak that they aren’t making the grade.

The press box is also a learning opportunity that Laughton may need. At this point, he’s run the drills in practice and experienced how Leafs players react in real time at ice level but hasn’t had a bird’s eye view at the Leafs system (or lack thereof at times) in action. A game of tracking the Leafs’ centres and understanding where Craig Berube wants them and where it goes right or wrong is a worthwhile homework assignment for Laughton and while locking him in a video room for every second he’s not on the ice could have a similar effect, there’s something to be said for taking in the full scope of the play unfolding.

If done right, say on Saturday night, let Laughton watch the Kings and let him apply what he learned the next night against the easier Ducks; there could be some merit to a night in the press box.

Sitting Laughton seems like a chance to still get out in front of things. There aren’t many regular season games left and clearly you want to maximize Laughton on the ice as much as possible, but hoping things just start clicking eventually is wishful thinking that rarely pays off with the Leafs and trotting him out there every night seems like sunk cost fallacy especially with Max Pacioretty getting close to returning.

If things don’t turn around quickly, the Leafs will likely head into the playoffs with Scott Laughton being a fourth-line winger, which is a hell of a situation to be in when the Leafs gave up a 1st round pick and Nikita Grebenkin for him. (You know who could have been a solid fourth line wing option? Nikita Grebenkin.) And while even my short-term concern around Laughton doesn’t impact my belief that he’ll be a solid contributor for Toronto next season, it really is all about the playoffs and getting the most out of him by mid-April needs to be a constant concern for Craig Berube.