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

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1:02Let's go to Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn how at AmericaCures.com, pay for by Farma. Welcome back everybody. It's 435 in oil country, Bob Stoffer with you in ice district, the oilers in the Ottawa Senators tonight. You can always text us on the Ashley Fine Floor, it's text line at 78-1-4-5, 780-4-518800. Ashley Fine Floor, let's get the new floor as you always wanted to Ashley Fine Floor. 143rd Street, 111th Avenue, open Monday to Saturday. Spotlight conversation coming up in 42nd Stime today is with Brian a lot in the oilers now. Spotlight conversation is presented by Cowan graphics from fleet wraps to signage quality graphics solutions without compromise, visit Cowan.ca, of course you can catch exclusive video clips, highlights and more in the oilers now, exit out, 80th Cheds YouTube channel, proudly presented by Legacy, Heating and Gullain. We'll tell you that guests and oilers now receive gift certificates to Bruce Chris Stakehouse, a 500-degree sizzle prime cuts and service that stuns, make your next

2:06date night or celebration unforgettable at Evans & Best Stakehouse, 99-90, Jasper Avenue. One guy who's always understood the value of D is Brian a lot and he is our oilers now headliner today for Wilhawk Beef Jerky, others can try to imitate but nobody can duplicate the great flavor of Wilhawk Beef Jerky only available in LA, in Laduke, Alberta. Hello Brian, how you doing? Fantastic Bob, how are you? Good. All right. You were a guy who insisted your staff once take Victor Hedman over Matt Douching when you were GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, so you've been in the chair, give me your assessment on Stan Bowman's acquisition of Conor Murphy, the oilers giving up a 2028 second round draft choice as Chicago retained 50% of the money on Murphy's $4.4 million cap hit.

3:07My assessment is it will make them better, it's going to give them more depth, I think that they slight change in players that they had been targeting, maybe a little bit more bleed of foot, better pop movers, I think this represents a guy that is a little more of a stay at home, D, good penalty killer, going to be consistent five on five, it's somebody that Dan knows well, having had him in Chicago, this has to be obviously a very familiar pick up for him and someone that he believes can kind of feel some of the void that Edmonton has experienced to some degree since Brett Kuhlack was excluded in the trade. Yeah, I mean, the orders had a decent December, the last two weeks of January, first week of February, not good, coming out of the Olympic break, you score a 17 goal, just to put things in perspective, Edmonton scored 17 goals in three games and only one one game.

4:11Calgary scored seven goals in three games and got three points. So something had to be done on the defense and with the PK, hopefully this will impact the team in a positive perspective. How important, because you started octagon's agency, how important is an agency in putting pressure on a general manager, if the player is stagnant with that club, either he's not playing, he's healthy scratch or he's not being deployed, is this a common practice that occurs? Right now, get up to 20% off select online storage solutions, put heavy duty HDX to good use protecting what's important to you. The solid impact resistant design prevents cracking and the clear base and sides make items easy to find, even when the totes are stacked. Find select online shelving and tote storage up to 20% off at the home depot, to organize every room in your home, from your garage to your attic, visit home depot.com, how dooms

5:15get more done. We all have that dream trip, we've been wishing we could go on, but too often life or usually price gets on the way. That's why price line is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. Up to 60% off hotels and up to 50% off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with price line, download the price line app or visit priceline.com and book your next trip today. Go to your happy price, price line. There are phone calls that get made often, I found that some general managers had time for them and some others quite frankly just didn't, but you're still obligated to make those calls as an agent. A lot of times what precipitates those calls is some pretty intense meetings with players trying to get to the bottom of what's going on with them yourself. Everybody has the same story. You always ask them, just tell me who screwed you and then we can get to the root of what

6:19the problem is. And you have a serious conversation because it always started with that and I'm joking somewhat. You have to have perspective when you're a professional hockey player and your entire world can turn up or down on a moment's notice. It's super pressurized. It's intense. This is what you wanted to do all your life. You've trained for it. You think you're ready and there's times when either you're not or the coaches aren't ready to play you or it's just not your time. They do a lot of reinforcing the process with players and sometimes that bleeds into, hey, would you mind if I called the GM? I'd like to kind of try to figure out what their perspective is. I have years and a lot of productive things come from that stuff, but some guys had no time for it, zero, and nothing productive would come out of conversations with those guys.

7:22And I understand that. I've been on both sides. You're running the club, but there was once upon a time when Donnie, me and I were just battling over Steven Stamco's and I understood what he was trying to do. I just couldn't convince him that I was on his side in the debate. He just wasn't playing and I wasn't very happy with the coaches for that and he would call me up because I'm the only outlet for him and thank goodness I'd rather have him call me than coaches. You want to keep them removed from this stuff at all costs and really vent and eventually I think he figured out that just be patient. We knew Steven was a great player, it was just a matter of time. We had to move a coach out, you know, sometimes there's things you just can't say to an agent about what's going on for obvious reasons. A lot of people hide behind that, but it is true.

8:26It's the same thing with trades, same thing right now with the deadline with what people are looking for. Every time something happens, it's a clue into what an organization is thinking. When I look at Conor Murphy, I'm thinking that they feel they're just not good enough on the back end right now. And a second rounder is one of a couple of really meaningful chips, so it's not a throwaway. This isn't a third or fifth or six rounder. This is important, this matters, the management team judged it to be that way and they made a move. Now, you didn't ask me, but why do I think they're making it? I think that in Edmonton, like a lot of cities, as we come down the stretch and it wasn't a good finish before the Olympic break, and it wasn't a great start after it or since said. The management recognizes we have a playoff quality team, but we're 20th in the lead

9:32right now. Anyway, it's slices. Yeah. When percentage is 20th, and that's when you've got to really take action, I think the management team is working hard and they're, I don't think they're done personally. No, I don't think they're done either, but they might have to make two different types of traitors. We're joined by former Tampa Bay General Manager Brian Lotton, who also started Octagon's player agency. Brian, on March 1st, so almost two years ago to the day, you told us that maybe 14 million times eight years made sense for Leon Dryd Settle, who of course is recommended and represented by a good friend, Mike Glute, and Octagon. Next year, in and around this time, you said the Emmett's Noiders, you've already lost Broberg and Holloway on RFA offer sheets. The Emmett's Noiders needed to be prepared for a potential threat of an offer sheet on Evan Bouchard, and as it turned out, yes, indeed, there was more than trace her fire on

10:32Bouchard, and the orders ultimately got a deal done on June the 30th. Just with Bouchard, a four-year extension, who by the way, we'll get to the second part of this question in a second. Do you think maybe people missed the bowdown, Bouchard, that they don't realize how good he is, including, I don't know, Doug Armstrong and Team Canada? I think they did personally, but they could have won. They could look in the eye and say we could have won. The only thing I would say at the end of the day, you're always trying to put together a team, and you feel great about it, and you can see how you're going to win, but before you're done with the exercise, I just want to sit down and take a shot at, if we don't win, what would that look like? For Canada, part of that exercise would have been, we might be just a little bit light on the back end with offensive guys, and you could visualize that we're going to lose

11:33to the United States or Sweden or anybody else that made it to the finals, and we think we're going to make it to the finals. I always thought it would only be them scoring one goal, just one goal, and when I evaluated their team, you and I did it openly on the show, we talked about the firepower up front, but my philosophy is very clear. You can have really good forwards, and not always win or be super competitive, but if you have a really strong D, you'll always be competitive. I thought Canada had a really great group of forwards. I thought they were light on the back end. I thought they took a lot of similar players in the end that weren't that offensive. All great players, every one of them, they won the four nations, they could have won the Olympic gold. This is how razor thin the margins are, but that was just my opinion. And Evan Bouchard was a guy that was talked about, Matthew Schafer was a guy that, right

12:37before the Olympics, people were talking about, Jeff Chikren was another guy. I think particularly two of those three guys would have changed the outcome for Canada, either one of them. And that would have been Evan Bouchard and Matthew Schafer. Now just regard to Jeff Chikren, I just think both of those players had the ability to help get them over the hump in that game, where they would have been the winners, too. One of my opinions doesn't matter now, there's a million things that have been said, that's just my opinion. All right, so just circling back. So March 1st, two years ago, you told us a dry saddle, eight years, 14 million is a number. And the deal was basically consummated, I believe August 29th, and there was a delay in the announcement because of the tragedy involving Johnny Goodrow. And then last year, you know, you're like Bouchard, and you do believe Bouchard was going to get off her sheeted.

13:38Is that correct? I did. There's a piece that seems kind of have, but all teams don't have, and that's somebody that just spends a lot of time on doing with some of the things you're referencing. You just, everybody's flying so blind in this league when you're managing a team, but the teams that are able to investigate, find out things that can come from somebody on hockey, hockey, operation staff, that can come from one of your radio hosts. It doesn't matter, but it's a super valuable skill to have in the organization. I happen to know everybody and do a lot of that. I don't do it for any team, but it's something that, when I was managing Tampa, I hated it because I was always so plugged in that you get bogged down when you're the guy in the chair. Okay. So let's carry this forward. There's been discussion on Darnell Nurse.

14:40You know, he and his wife just had a baby boy, Clay, their third child. Darnell is part of the leadership group here. Some people have suggested to me all the orders couldn't trade Darnell Nurse, and I'm like, to me, if it happens, it would likely be an off-season move. Could you foresee a scenario where there would be teams interested in Darnell? 100% I could, but I also, you have to know, yes, there's no trade clauses and no mood clauses and things like that, and you respect it for a player because they generally have earned it, and I don't have any problem with that, but that doesn't mean you can't agree with the player. It might be better for them if they got traded, and it might be better for the organization. This is kind of that type of deal. Darnell's got to know moves clause, obviously, so nothing could ever happen without his

15:40consent, or, you know, some of the other players on the team that have that. But, you know, ultimately, you've got to do what's best for your club, and the player wants to do what's best for him and the club, or him and his career. And, you know, I think people get too intimidated by that, because there's nothing wrong with having those types of discussions with players, in my opinion. How stressful is this for players, especially maybe younger players on good teams that think they might be the piece that gets moved as a team loads up? It's hard to explain what it's like to, you know, live in a city, work a certain job, and then have somebody tell you at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning that you can pick any city. You don't live in Edmonton, you live in, you know, Carolina now.

16:41It's a very weird dynamic. It happens to me quite a bit, so I'm not an expert in a lot of things, but this one I am. It's overwhelming at times. I walked into a lot of locker rooms where I didn't know players for the first time, and it does sometimes feel overwhelming, but at the same time, it's kind of like, you know, what you signed up for. It's a hard business, and no one's going to feel sorry for you, but I'm seeing brutal things. I've seen guys joke about it. The first team I was out the bit of soda northerners, we traded, keep acting for momenta, and really put stands up after he told everybody he'd been traded for him and said, well, who else came with you? Oh, that's funny. That's funny. So, players have a sense of humor about it, and it was received as, you know, as trying

17:43to break the ice. But at the end of the day, it is a very cruel business, and this, this, no one's going to cry for anybody in today's world, making millions of dollars, but there is, as you've been signed to it, that is much more difficult than I think the average fan, you know, understands. All right, Jordan Bittington, you tweeted something out on him, is he in play? In my opinion, he is definitely in play, you know, there's been some work on his no trade clause. I know that. People are looking at it, whether it be the club or the player, and it's always possible. He's a guy that, there's not a lot of goalies out there this year, and I think people recognize essentially what I was saying today, which is that he hasn't had a great season. A lot of people were skeptical of him being the guy for Canada, but they didn't lose a

18:46gold medal because of Jordan Bittington. He has shown an ability, first off, and then run to the Stanley Cup Final, second off last year in the four nations. And I thought, again, even though he didn't win this year for Canada, they didn't lose because of him. They needed to score another gold medal, what? So I think he's proven that he thrives in those types of pressure situations, and I've had guys like that in the past. You have a guy like that at times, and Evan Bouchard, that I think people perceive his disinterested at times, but it's not true, that sometimes people do, they love the big game so much, that that's when they really rise to the occasion. I happen to think that's Jordan Bittington, and I do happen to think that's Evan Bouchard, and that's why I was disappointed he wasn't on the Olympic team. I felt like he would have raised his game to another level.

19:48Brian, I see the older sister up, I mean, I see Evanton, I said I could see Evanton making two more deals, because I think Yaw Flod, you know, a scenario where Andrew Mons, Japan, he just hasn't worked out here, you're probably going to have to give a sweetener, and then there's your cap space to go out and acquire something different. So to me, it's two moves. I know this Stan moments, he's going to grind, isn't he? There's no doubt that Stan is going to do everything he can with his power. I don't know what he's going to do, but this move from Conor Murphy, I just didn't, my instinct is, I would expect more. Yeah. I think Conor Murphy, he'll be helpful Bob, but I'm still, I'd be shocked if that was all he did. At this stage, me too, as well. Brian, thank you for joining us, I know it is now. My pleasure, Bob. You bet, it is currently 454 in our old country, we'll come back in two minutes time.

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