Drafted first overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, Lawton played for the North Stars, New York Rangers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks, and was the Tampa Bay Lightning general manager.

Junior Hockey Team at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in 1983,[1] and leading his high school, Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island,[2] to consecutive championships,[3] Lawton was the first overall draft pick by the North Stars in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft.

Lawton played his first couple of years in Minnesota, and split his second season between the North Stars and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Indians.

[7] In 1983, Lawton was training with the U.S. National Hockey Team,[8] but unlike other North Stars prospects, Lawton was encouraged to turn professional ahead of the 1984 Winter Olympics, and though he did later play in the 1984 Canada Cup, missed the extra experience playing in Sarajevo would have afforded him.

[4] Lawton set a mark for the North Stars franchise for fastest two goals scored by a rookie, at 19 seconds, in 1983.

[10] Halfway through the 1988–89 NHL season, the Rangers traded him again, to Hartford, and Lawton would go on to play in eight different cities over the next four years.