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He was the first overall pick in the National Hockey League draft.
He built a strong foundation for the Tampa Bay Lightning's Stanley Cup team.
After retiring in 1993, he began his career as a sports agent and was acquired by Octagon Athlete Representations in 1998. He represented athletes such as Mike Modano and Sergei Fedorov and grew Octagon's client list to the second-largest among NHL players before becoming Tampa Bay Buccaneers' general manager in 2008.
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For now, he's a dark horse candidate for the Edmonton Oilers general manager position, but he might be the obvious choice.
Brian Lawton, 59, has extensive hockey experience and more than meets Edmonton Hockey Coach Jeff Jackson's criteria for bringing in an experienced NHL talent to lead his team.
Lawton has been a regular interviewer on Oilers Now over the years, where he has displayed a wealth of hockey knowledge on contract negotiations, the salary cap, player relations, team construction, analytics, etc. From his time as an agent, he likely has a deep understanding of what players want from a team, which is now a crucial aspect of management.
I've always been impressed with Lawton's intelligence and wit as I've commented and criticized the Oilers over the years. One thing is clear: his belief in building a team from the defense. That's why one of his key moves in Tampa was selecting Victor Hedman in the 2009 draft over quality forwards like Matt Duchene, Evander Kane and Brayden Schenn.
I haven't heard his name mentioned much for the GM job in Edmonton – names I've heard more often are Mark Hunter, Stan Bowman, Jason Botterill and Keith Gretzky.
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For example, Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal brings up Gretzky's name.
“If the Washington Capitals promoted Brian MacLellan and put assistant GM Chris Patrick in his place to become president of hockey operations, there's no reason why Keith Gretzky, with his years of scouting experience and farm team management, can't do the same with the Oilers… Again, I think Keith Gretzky could be the Oilers' GM going forward. He's very smart, he puts in the work and he runs the farm team. You have to promote people within your organization, reward them and trust them. Carolina did that with Eric Tulski.”
Maybe Matheson is right and Keith Gretzky is the best choice. I don't know. I'm not saying one candidate is better than the other; I don't know enough about each to credibly make that statement. But from what I've seen and heard, I like Lawton a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the big job.
We'll find out soon. Jackson appeared on Bob McCown's podcast today and said he'll make his choice within the next week to 10 days.
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