Former NHL Executive Brian Lawton (3/17/26)

0:00Hey, it's Bob Stoffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. How many discounts does USA Auto Insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, uh, new vehicle discount, storage discount. How many discounts will you stack up? Tap the banner or visit USAA.com slash Auto Discounts, Restrictions Apply. Protein is now at Starbucks, and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein, cold phone to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. Before we went to break, by the way, it's 436 in oil country. It's a really easy trivia question today. The question was, the San Jose Sharks have two former Oilers in their Hockey Operations Department, GM Mike Greer, Todd Marshall, who's the third former Oiler acquired on this day by Edmonton that does some work with San Jose and Derek knew the correct answer was

1:04Doug Wait. Traded in the rare trade that worked out for both teams. Wait wasn't playing a ton in New York. In fact, the New York Post had called him Dead Wait, prior to that trade that year. And Essent Ticketed, who was a very good player, a three-time stand-up champion with Edmonton. He would go to New York, and that trade happened in March 17 to 93. The next year, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. Ticketed went back to the Rangers after he signed in St. Louis. And ended up having another amazing playoff run. He was a money player to say the least. Secondary, Voiders now in our spotlight conversation is coming up with Brian Lawton. The Otters now spotlight conversation brought to you by Cowan Graphics from Fleet Raps to signage quality graphics solutions without compromise. Visit Cowan.ca. Of course, you can text us on the Ashley Fine Floor's text line at 780-451-8800. Derek, by the way, wins a $50 GC by the Fine folks at Pro Am Sports. Ashley Fine Floor is getting the new floor as you always wanted.

2:04143-111 Avenue. You can catch exclusive video clips highlights of more in the Otters now. I got an 80-inch Ed's YouTube channel, proudly presented by Legacy Heating and Gulling. And we'll tell you, guests in Edmonton received guest certificates to Japanese Village. It's a true celebration for the census quality and ingredients unmatched, grill-side experience. Book your seat at J.V. Edmonton.ca. All right, off to the Mercury Resort and Casino Hotline. And we welcome back to the show. Brian Lawton for Abe's Door Service. Hello, Brian. How you doing? Doing terrific. Bob, how are you? Good. It's nice that you're getting positive feedback from the listeners to the show. That's always a good thing. I saw your email. They like you when you're on. That's very kind of, and I had to last. I just saw that. I didn't know if I missed that or what, but I thought it might be of interest to you. Yeah, well, they don't like me. They like your show. Oh, I think that's all that. I think you would be surprised how many people comment on your appearances on the show.

3:08Look, that's cut to the chase. You started Octagon's hockey department. Leon Drysettel is, Leon Drysettel's, you know, the highest paid player in the league this year. You were the guy that marched the first to 2024 that told us that Leon would sign for 14 million times eight. You said that was the number while he did. And then he responded in 2425 being the best forward in the NHL. And we found out today that Leon is done for the regular season with a lower body injury. This is a, you just simply, I know in football, I used the term next man up. I'm like, sorry, man, when the number one quarterback gets hurt in the NFL, it's not next man up. When the number one receiver gets hurt, it's not next man up. When the number one left tackle gets hurt, it's not next man up. When the rush end gets hurt, it's not next man up. When the middle line back of the calls and defensive scheme gets hurt, it's not next

4:09man up. When a top cover corner gets like, I've never understood that injuries matter. They're going to impact now. The owners have to play differently, but give me your thoughts on, on the dry settle. You know, I don't, I'm not asking to shed any insight because I know you've got, you know, you're ought to go on clients, but this is going to be a big loss for him, isn't it? It is going to be a big loss for them. There's no doubt about it. I do think, however, and we've talked about this openly on your show, you know, one of my criticisms from a distance has just been, you know, Conor and Leon have played so much this year that I, I think the team could be more productive if they used more players. This is going to be a forced event for them now, and we're going to see if I was wrong or, or right on that point, it's going to be a lot more challenging without dry settle. I would have loved to have seen that happen more with him in the lineup because has the Edmonton Oilers know as well as anybody in the league with the exception, maybe other

5:11Florida Panthers, when it gets right down to it, you can make it to the finals like Edmonton has the last couple of years in Florida, it's a war of attrition and any work that you can do to win consistently in the regular season where you don't have to expend the maximum amount of time from your key assets comes up huge for you in playoffs. Yeah. In this case here, though, without Leon, there's going to be a lot of guys that get an opportunity. I know you're not buying the argument by your opening, Bob, but that's just the reality of it in every single player on the Edmonton Oilers at some point in their career, whether it was in pro-ramarature, has faced a similar type time. So this won't overwhelm the players. They need guys to step up and they need them to step up in a big way. So Brian, last year in the final 14 games of the regular season, in not one of those games that the Edmonton Oilers have both McDavid and dry settled in the lineup, I think in

6:13at least four of the games that didn't have neither. And I think there were eight, five and one. I think they got one win without neither of them in the lineup. The biggest area that it impacted was the power play. It was 25.6% through the first 68 games of the regular season, which was sixth. In the final 14 games, the power play was 28, then it'll make it 17%. And it knocked Edmonton from sixth to 12 overall at 23.7%, and then the Oilers power play got going again during the course of the LA series when they got healthy. I expect that it'll impact the power play more. Does it force Edmonton's hand to cheat now? I will tell you, if you look at the advanced metrics since the Olympics, Edmonton's a top five team in expected goals against, doesn't mean they've given up the five fewest goals. It means they're top five team, but does this ensure that they have to play differently? This Friday, the time traveling comedy movie of the year arrives, Mike and Nick and Nick

7:15and Alice only on Hulu. The film stars Vince Vaughn, James Morrison, and Asa Gonzalez in a wild action comedy about one disastrous night that spirals out of control. And here's the twist. There are two Vince Vaughn's. Don't miss Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice, written and directed by Ben David Grubinsky, streaming this Friday, only on Hulu, rated R. My day kicks off with a refreshing sociocenergy drink, then straight to the gym, pre-capic up, back home to meal prep, time for my fire session shift. One more Celsius kind of keep the lights on. When the three alarm hits, I'm ready. Celsius, live, fit, go. Grab a cold refreshing socioceture local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. I think it does, and I think the players will respond to it and ensure that they must play a different style of game. You can outscore people and Connor and Leon are going. It hasn't worked as much as maybe some people would like this year.

8:17But ultimately, the best path forward for this team is to come out with a mentality that we have to be prepared to win games. One nothing, two to one, worst case scenario, three to two. You just have to come to the rank every night with that mentality, understand what you're going to do. And pick up on the shift, because Leon drives out over 20 minutes a night, that's a lot of waste time to distribute to other forwards. They're going to be more into the games, they're going to get more opportunity. It's what they do with it that will depend, you know, will really shape the fortunes of the Edmonton Oilers this year. I'd be surprised if guys don't react positively. I had somebody really smart recently talk about how hard it is to get back a year or two. The order is to play the second most amount of playoff games in the national hockey league. Okay. So like that's not easy to do.

9:18And they brought out, I mean Florida right now is hanging on to make the playoffs. Now the Florida Panthers, they won the, you know, they won in game seven and they won in games five and six last year. So they've got back to back, Stanley Cups, which does not make it easy for the fans here to deal, you know, with things, but even like I'm going to, this person I spoke to mentioned to me, well, you know, Bob, like looking New Jersey, New Jersey, you know, was the New Jersey Devils had a system they could defend. And even they were a team that at the height of their powers where they won three Stanley Cups, we're not a guarantee. You'd lock year to year. You know what I'm saying, Brian? I know exactly what you mean, Bob, they won in 95 and then they won two more before oh three and they did it on that exact basis. You are recalling this correctly there was, they were some gyrations in there.

10:21The Florida Panthers are not going to make the playoffs this year. I have a lot of good friends there. I don't think I'd be insulting anybody by saying that. They are getting Seth Jones back tonight. Maybe that gives him a bit of a boost, but, you know, I just don't believe it's going to happen for them and everybody's aware they lost bar cost, but there's no excuses there. They're disappointed as they should be. As Abboton would be too, if they, the point that this person was making is, do you realize how hard it is to win? So let's just look into the Devils here, Brian, for a second. They won the cup of 94 95. Now that was a surprise. They went 22 18 and 8 in the regular season, okay, and they ended up putting the Stanley Cup and frankly beat Detroit pretty easily in the final. They missed the playoffs the next year. Then they lost in round two, round one, round one. Then they won the Stanley Cup in 99 2000. They made it to the finals the next year and then lost in round one. Then they won the cup in oh three, lost in round one, lost in round two, lost in round

11:22two, round one, round one, round one, and have won playoff win in the last 13 seasons, but they had, like that's a team that could really defend and even they had wide variances in season by season performance, and there were fewer teams in the league back then, too, Brian. That's the other thing here. Like, you know what? Exactly. Exactly. Correct. Excuse me. I mean, yeah, I'm not excusing evidence in season. I'm just saying we need to respect how good the league is and how hard it is to, you know, to have ended up playing 13 playoffs, series in a four year run. No, no doubt about that, Bob, and a lot of that has been, you know, on the basis of pretty good health for the club, but there's so many different things that can go sideways. It's incredible. When you're managing a team, you get to feel that every day, and as Brian Berk used to say, there's a sniper behind every tree, ready to take you out.

12:26That's just the reality of it. Edmonton's had a great run. I don't see any reason why they still can't make the playoffs this year, though. I mean, this game against the sharks, believe it or not, I never thought I'd say it at this point in their rebuild to huge game, huge game for them, and it's a huge game for Edmonton. Looking at their schedule over the last two weeks, my conclusion with a healthy Leon dry cycle, if there was no way that Edmonton would not make the playoffs, is that more in jeopardy today. Sure. Of course it is. You're missing one of your top two forwards, but I still think there's a path there. I still think that because of their schedule and who they're playing, which is basically the teams that they're competing with here on out, it's a huge advantage for a team that's been to the Stanley Cup finals the last two years. Yeah. You know, you can beat those teams. They got to prove that tonight. The sharks are hungry. Maclin, Celebrini is as advertised. Their depth is better than we've given them credit for, and the sharks are having a really

13:29great year for them. Yeah. Not as good as Edmonton's right now, but it could end up really good. Well, there's no question. I mean, if you look at the base of San Jose and what they've got was Celebrini, Will Smith, you know, Misa, along with Maclin, right, and then Dickinson on defense. I mean, they're basically a stud right handed shooting prospect away from on the back end from having quite a, you know, quite a, there's going to be a competition between them and Anaheim as to whose Anaheim's got bigger forwards. But Anaheim doesn't have set with all due respect to Leo Carlson. They don't have Celebrini, like Celebrini is a top five player to lead this year. And so there you have it. Brian, I'm going to get you to put back to the days when you're an agent. If I had told you, before you took the job with the Tampa Bay Lightning, at the time in which, by the way, the owners of the Lightning were fully endorsed, approved by the Board of Governors.

14:29The same day that Darryl Kates was approved as the owner of the amateur owners back in 2008. But if I had told you a part of that, when the owners were sending out videos to attract free agents to come to town, that one day Edmonton, in back to back years, would lead the league and revenue generation. And then be in a position where they are awarded the second biggest hockey tournament in the world. Because I think, well, Grant Neolumphix is number one. And that's a whole different sort of bidding process. But for Edmonton's slash Calgary to beat out 17 other North American markets to get the world cup of hockey, could you have ever envisioned that being possible 25 years ago? No. I couldn't, to be honest to you. And I played in the Canada Cup in 84. And we played in Edmonton. And I thought it was incredible. But I've always loved Edmonton. I love going there.

15:30The ice was great. Loved to have the opportunity to compete against the best team in the world at that time. I was exciting. Or anybody that's a real competitor, that's what you want. We didn't win as much as I would have wanted, but I just loved the ability to have the opportunity. For Edmonton to get this though, there's so much more that goes into this. You know, there were 25 different cities that bid on it. You know, so what does that mean? Well, right away, the fans should hear, you've got to be willing to step up and put a dollar amount on acquiring this as well. That's not the final criteria in the end, but it's a part of it. And I just would not have imagined that Edmonton and Calgary, for that matter, would be in this position. I'm incredibly thrilled for the fans in Calgary. Nobody wants to hear that. Edmonton, but getting a new rank. Yeah. I'm happy to. It's awesome. It's great. It's awesome. It really is.

16:30It's been needed for a long time. Right. Like when I was playing needed, so I'm happy for them to finally get that, but I'm happy for both cities. It's going to be a great event. Everybody, you know, obviously Canada didn't win gold, but in the United States, I've never seen so much interest on the international side and the NHL side, you know, just by virtue of the final, and obviously the Americans won, but it's a good thing for hockey. Canada is going to win lots of goals in the future. I'm not worried about them, but it was different. It's been been received different, and it's great for the game of hockey Edmonton being a leader now, Bob. That's great for the game of hockey too. I mean, as you've got your, I mean, you talked to Gary Batman, you've got, you talked to Bill Daley, this part of the reason the owners got the bit of split, Calgary gets around Rob and Edmonton's got gets the, you know, the semi-final and final.

17:34The owners have hosted so many events here in Rochester's place. So like, how about this for, it's basically the mech of hockey here for the next three years, right? We have the Holenke Gratsky this year, okay? We got the world juniors in December and January in Edmonton and Red here, okay? Then we got another Holenke Gratsky in the summer of 28, and then we, and that's after we have the World Cup of Hockey, like it's, it's incredible what, and not to mention, you've got an NHL team that's going for it and a WHO team that's going for it in a market, you know, in a market that's produced over 200 NHL players. It's pretty, I mean, they've got, they've got a kind of, you know, Gary went to bat for the battle for Alberta, you know, this Brian, back in, and you probably weren't too happy at that time as an agent knowing that they were digging in, trying to get a hard cap during the O-405 lockout. But at the end of the day, I bet you the players association didn't think the orders would be contributors to revenue sharing for, you know, basically 90 percent since we've come

18:39out of the O-405 lockout, and when Calgary gets a new building, they will be a contributor to revenue sharing as well. It's amazing when you think about the tournament. Two teams. One cup. The prime time stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tiger's Jupiter links. Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 PM Eastern on ESPN 2, and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 PM Eastern on ESPN, and on the ESPN app. Spring starts at the Home Depot, and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season. Fire up the flavor with our wide variety of grills for under $300, like the next grill for burner gas grill that's perfect for hosting your spring cookout. Then set the scene, and turn your outdoor space into the go-to spot the patio sets for every budget. Bring it this season with grills that deliver flavor and patios that set the vibe from the Home Depot. Start your spring with low prices guaranteed at the Home Depot, exclusive supplyseeHome Depot.com slash price match for details. No, it really is. And to take it back to those times, there was a lot of angst against what would be considered

19:43small market teams. Players had some angst over that. They wanted to play in bigger markets. They wanted to raise the profile of the game. It's really amazing that Edmonton has not only been able to keep up with that, but actually it ended up leading it. That's what is most remarkable, and, you know, Darryl Cleats is the number one reason why that happened, and it's been pretty incredible for the National Hockey League and for the City of Edmonton, because obviously the great teams they had in the past had put them on the map, but this is next level. This is the full package now. This is a brand new state-of-the-art world-class building, and it's really paid off for the franchise. And for the City. All right. Final one for you. First on the response, very quickly, there was, you know, underwhelming response on the Austin Matthews knee job from Radco Gutus.

20:47You wonder if that may have some ramification down the road in Maple Leaf Country. Conversely, you had Casperi Captain and Vasilie Putcolson, the linemates for Leon Drey that will go in after Ozzy Weissblatt for a far less egregious act on the ice. Which one did you like better? Yeah, I always want to see a response from your team. I mean, it's a little bit... It's great to see players think differently about this stuff. There's no Dave Semenko circling to handle anything that maybe seems egregious the way it used to be, and it wasn't just Dave Semenko. He's obviously a very specific story, and a host of other characters. But, you know, the league is relied upon to take care of those types of instances. I've talked to players about it. They literally think of it in those terms, whereas that's not the way it was. But, you know, there's nothing wrong with a really strong response like Edmundton had.

21:50I was somewhat disappointed that you didn't see that kind of response for Toronto. Not for any reason other than the whole intent of the Department of Player Safety and improving the rules was to eliminate dangerous plays. What Radco-Gutus did was outside the normal realm of what you can expect in a game. We don't need, we always wanted zero tolerance on hooking and holding. I think that's great. It can get a little nicknacky at times, but the removal of dangerous plays I always felt is what the NHL was after. When these types of things happen, it's kind of like the NFL and football and the quarterbacks basically getting violated for a few years before they change the rules. It's not good for business when you're hurting, letting your star players get hurt. I'm an advocate for really coming down on something that's outside the rules a lot more

22:54than five games. That's just my opinion. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, but I think that's what the goal is. I don't quite think that the suspension lived up to that in the Austin Matthews event because you just don't know. You could have ended a player's career. I know players that I tried to get them. I just barely stuck my knee out. You've got to train that stuff out of the players and the way you train it out of them is with severe suspensions. Even if they say it felt like a hockey play, not a hockey play. Great stuff, Brian. Appreciate your time. Thank you very much, Bob. Former Tampa Bay General Manager, the manager at Octagons, player agency, that's the agency that has Lea and Rice settled Brian Lawton. Guests and orders now receive certificates to Roost, Chris Stakehouse, a 500 degrees sizzle prime cuts and service that stuns. Make your next state-nader celebration unforgettable at Evidence Best Stakehouse, 9990 Jazz Gravity. The team at Brentridge Ford, they've done it again led by one of the top-rated service

23:56departments in the country. They've won the Ford President's Award for Customer and Satisfaction for the 15th time. That reinforces the fact that their word means something. As Cam Moody myself can attest to, when they say they'll look after your best interest, they do call Rich Johnny and Mark on the team at 780-352-1648. Remember, cars cost less in a task when Thomas Dias, 880 News Weather Traffic Update, Sportsnet Jason Buckella on the upcoming NHL draft when you return. Hello there. Thursdays on Global. I'm Madeline Matlock. She's the lawyer with a legendary name. Don't underestimate Miss Matlock, this one is a shark. You know it, baby. The one you can trust, even if she has to bend the rules. Things aren't always as black and white as they seem. To crack a case. This is how I get things done. Any winning actress Kathy Bates is Matlock. All-new Thursdays at 90s turn on Global. Stream on Stack TV.