Scott Laughton is a soft-spoken but highly focused young hockey player. Yesterday, the player half-jokingly said that he packed a "medium-sized" suitcase for his trip to training camp, meaning that he's equally prepared to stay put or go back to the Oshawa Generals for a fourth season in the Ontario Hockey League.The sense I got, however, was that the Flyers' first-round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft has tunnel vision about taking his absolute best shot at making the team's roster out of training camp. His body language is that of a player who feels like he belongs but is also eager to learn and continue to improve.Yesterday, I asked him what was the biggest difference he noticed between his five-game NHL stint with the Flyers and the OHL. Many young players point to the size, strength and skill of their NHL opponents. Instead, what he noticed from direct on-ice experience with the Flyers had to do with adjusting his pacing and decision-making on the ice."The biggest difference I noticed was definitely time with the puck," Laughton said.Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of Laughton's NHL cup of coffee last year was that he seemed to be adapting to the NHL pace at a rapid clip. From there, as noted above, the number one thing the Flyers wanted from him over the past year was to continue to add muscle.Laughton, who looked extremely thin at the 2012 Development Camp but seems 14 months later to be about 10 solid pounds heavier with additional room for growth, said that he had already been well aware of the need for physical adaptation before he ever skated an NHL shift. It comes by virtue of playing against grown men rather than teenagers, and playing against the best players in the world.Laughton's 2012-13 season in the OHL was interrupted by a pair of suspensions by the league for borderline hits. The two-way center is definitely a player who asks or spares no quarter in terms of physical play, despite possessing an average frame, but cannot have a repeat of that this season regardless of which league he's playing.Before and between the suspensions, Laughton's game developed at a solid clip last season. Everyone knew before the season that he has was a well above-average defensive player for a teenage center. The question mark was how much offensive upside he had.Over the course of last year, especially during the period when Oshawa's lineup was riddled with injuries and key players such as Boone Jenner were at the World Junior Championships, Laughton had more of a chance to show what he could do offensively. He averaged well over a point-per-game during that segment of the season without sacrificing any of his defensive effectiveness.Laughton finished the 2012-13 OHL season with 23 goals and 56 points in 49 games. That represented an appropriate pace of improvement from his Draft year totals of 21 goals and 53 points in 64 games. In the OHL playoffs last year, Laughton dialed up his two-way intensity even higher and produced 13 points (seven goals, seven assists) in seven games.At the time he was drafted by the Flyers last year, an NHL scout from another club told me that he saw Laughton's NHL upside as being similar to former Selke Trophy winner John Madden. The Flyers' people set the bar even a bit higher, comparing him to former Flyers captain Mike Richards.If Laughton "only"someday becomes a high-end NHL checking line player with modest offensive output, he will still be a valuable player at this level. A year ago at this time, I would have called the Richards comparisons a pie-in-the-sky projection. Now, I'd say he may have a chance to someday get close to that level.Apart from his skills and hockey smarts, Laughton carries himself like a player who "gets it" in terms of his preparation and learning curve. He isn't loud or boisterous -- not a a colorful quote -- but the self-confidence he possesses is very obvious. He looks you in the eye when he talks and he does not seem to get overwhelmed by anything.Laughton has pretty much exclusively played center during his midget and junior hockey careers. Right now, there is a spot to be won at the Flyers' third-line left wing spot. It will be interesting to see if the team takes a look at him as a winger in preseason games. I also don't think Adam Hall's ffourth-line spot on the NHL team is a mortal lock, though the odds are currently in the veteran's favor. Even so, it is not totally out of the realm of possibility that Laughton could simply outplay Hall in camp and come away with an NHL job.**********Kindle users: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information click here Click below to follow me on Twitter: