Something I just discovered on the GW2 wiki: levelling a crafting to max gives you 10 levels. Since you can have 2 crafting disciplines, that's 20 levels, and the level cap is 80 -- so that's a big deal.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/CraftingThat said, I have zero laurels, and I do the daily fairly diligently, and there's some nice level 80 laurel gear. (I've been spending them on crafting bags.)