Dave Taylor

David Andrew Taylor (born December 4, 1955) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current executive in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played as a right winder for the Los Angeles Kings in 17 seasons from 1977 to 1994. He currently serves as vice president of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues.

Taylor was a star player at Clarkson University for four seasons while being drafted by both the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association in 1975. He made it to the NHL in 1977 with the Los Angeles Kings. The season saw Taylor take part in history as the "Triple Crown Line" of Taylor, centre Marcel Dionne and left winger Charlie Simmer became the first line in league history where each player scored 100 points in the same season; Taylor's 112 points was a career high and the first of two straight 100-point seasons. In the 1980s, Taylor was named to the All-Star Game four times and was a Second All-Star once while recording two 40-goal seasons. In 1991, he was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy and Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his perseverance and for his leadership qualities on and off the ice while also recording his 1,000th point, becoming the 29th player to do so in NHL history. In his penultimate season, Taylor reached the Stanley Cup Final for the only time in his career, with Taylor recording five goals and eight total points in 22 playoff games. After playing 33 games in the season, Taylor retired, having scored 431 goals and recorded 1,069 points in 1,111 games. Taylor had his number 18 retired by the Kings in 1995, the third player to receive the honor in franchise history.

After his playing career ended, Taylor became general manager of the Kings prior to the start of the season, serving in the position until the season. He served as director of player personnel of the Dallas Stars from 2007 to 2010 before being hired by the St. Louis Blues for the same position in 2010. He was promoted to vice president of operations in 2012 and won a Stanley Cup with the team in 2019.

Early life Taylor was born and raised in Levack, Ontario, a mining town located 45 km northwest of Sudbury, Ontario. He began playing minor hockey in Levack and became a young prodigy in the small town. In his teens, he attended his local Levack High School while also working in the mine in his hometown.

Junior and college career Taylor found himself playing Junior A for his hometown Onaping Falls Huskies of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League in 1973 where he recorded 67 goals and 76 assist to total 143 points in 45 games.

After one season with Onaping Falls with him graduating from high school. Taylor played four seasons of college hockey at Clarkson University, where he still holds the school record for career points (251) goals (98) and assists (153) as well as single season goals (41) assists (67) and points (108) in the 1976–77 campaign where he led all of NCAA that year and won the ECAC Hockey player of the year award. in comparison, opposing teams scored a combined 127 goals on Clarkson that year. He graduated with a bachelor's of science degree in industrial management in 1977. In 1992, he was honored by Clarkson with induction into the Athletics Hall of Fame and the Golden Knight Award (the highest alumni honor). He was granted an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1997 and was awarded the Golden Knight Award, Clarkson's highest alumni honor, in 2002. In celebration of 50 years of ECAC Hockey in 2011, Taylor was named to the All-Time Top 50 Players list.

Taylor also played seven games with the Fort Worth Texans of the Central Hockey League during the 1976–77 season putting up two goals and four assists for six points.

NHL career

Taylor was selected 210th overall in the 15th round of the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft and was also selected 113th overall in the 9th round of the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft. His first NHL season was the 1977–78 season where he played 64 of 80 games and recorded 22 goals and 21 assists to total 43 points. In the next season of 1978–79, he improved to one of the leagues top scorers recording 43 goals and 48 assists to total 91 points.

Taylor was a member of the famous Triple Crown Line along with hall of fame centre Marcel Dionne and left winger Charlie Simmer. In the 1980–81 season all three scored more than 100 points with the Kings with Dionne and Simmer scoring 135 and 105 points, respectively and Taylor scoring 112 points to record the best season of his career.

Taylor became captain of the Kings in 1985 after the departure of preceding captain Terry Ruskowski. He held the position until training camp of the season when Wayne Gretzky was named captain by new head coach Tom Webster, with Taylor consenting to the decision willingly. He would then serve as an alternate captain for the rest of his career. He provided an assist on Gretzky's goal in the third period on October 15 that made him the all-time points leader in league history.

On April 10, 1990, he, along with Tomas Sandström and Tony Granato, recorded hat-tricks against the Western Conference regular season champion Calgary Flames, becoming the first instance that three players from the same team recorded a hat trick in the same game in the playoffs. In 1991, Taylor won both the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his dedication towards the Los Angeles Kings and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for his involvement in charity work and for helping others overcome speech impediments.

In 1993, with his production rapidly deteriorating, Taylor and the Kings made the Stanley Cup Final with him producing three goals and five assists for eight points in 22 playoff games. The Kings lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the final in five games.

Troubled by head injuries the previous few seasons, the season proved to be his last as a player, which saw him plagued by headaches and dizziness with increased exercise, with a mild concussion suffered in a collision with teammate Warren Rychel during a January 4 game being his penultimate game. On April 12, 1994, Taylor announced his retirement and played his final game against the Edmonton Oilers, taking the faceoff before being taken out of the game for his 1,111th and final game in the league. He got a front-office position with the team as an assistant general manager. At the time he retired, only Bill Russell and Jackie Slater had played more seasons for a major professional sports franchise in the city of Los Angeles than Taylor.

For his career (1977–1994), he was one of 23 players to record 1,000 points (ranking 18th). When he retired, he was first in franchise history for games played (1,111), and second in goals, assists, and points.

He held the games record until March 28, 2019 when he was passed by Dustin Brown, who had been selected by Taylor in the 2003 draft (Brown was later passed by Anže Kopitar in 2023). He is the lowest-drafted player to net 1,000 career points, drafted in the 15th round (210th overall) of the 1975 NHL draft and appeared in four NHL All-Star Games in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1994. The Los Angeles Kings retired the number 18 in his honor on April 3, 1995.

International career Taylor represented Canada in the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1983, 1985 and 1986. During those tournaments, he recorded 7 goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 30 games. Canada won bronze in 1983 and 1986 and also won a silver in 1985.

Front office On April 27, 1997, Taylor was hired on a four-year contract to serve as the general manager and vice president of the Los Angeles Kings in a shuffle that saw Sam McMaster fired and Rogie Vachon re-assigned from being chief hockey operations officer. In the 2000-01 season, Taylor made the difficult decision to trade away longtime Kings defenseman Rob Blake to the Colorado Avalanche for Adam Deadmarsh after Blake would not sign a contract extension; the result was one of the deepest playoff runs in a decade as Deadmarsh was pivotal to the Kings upset of the Detroit Red Wings in six games during the first round, followed by the Kings taking the eventual champions Avalanche to seven games. The following year saw him granted an extension through to the season. Taylor also drafted future Kings superstars which include Anže Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick, whom would be key to the Kings winning Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.

On April 18, 2006, Taylor was fired. With a record of 290–261–74–31, Taylor was the winningest general manager in Kings’ history.

On July 31, 2007, he was hired by the Dallas Stars to serve as the team's Director of Player Personnel, where he served for three seasons. In 2008, he was named to serve as a member of the Clarkson University board of trustees. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019 and returned to his hometown of Levack with the cup; months later, Taylor's name was later engraved on the Cup for the first time ever.

Personal life Because of his success, Taylor is considered a hero in his hometown of Levack and the arena there features a lot of dedication to him.

Taylor has dealt with stuttering since childhood. The speech disorder once forced him to drop a college class when he discovered that an oral presentation would be required. When interviewed after games early in his professional hockey career, Taylor would attempt to conceal his stuttering by faking hyperventilation as a means of providing him with fluency. Taylor credits Los Angeles–based Speech-Language Pathologist Vivian Sheehan for assisting him in his triumph over stuttering.

Taylor and his wife Beth currently reside near Los Angeles with their two daughters, Jamie and Katie.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1973–74 Onaping Falls Huskies NOJHL 45 67 76 143 — — — — — — 1973–74 Clarkson Golden Knights ECAC 25 11 19 30 — — — — — — 1974–75 Clarkson Golden Knights ECAC 32 30 24 54 — — — — — — 1975–76 Clarkson Golden Knights ECAC 31 26 33 59 — — — — — — 1976–77 Clarkson Golden Knights ECAC 34 41 67 108 — — — — — — 1976–77 Fort Worth Texans CHL 7 2 4 6 6 — — — — — 1977–78 Los Angeles Kings NHL 64 22 21 43 47 2 0 0 0 5 1978–79 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 43 48 91 124 2 0 0 0 2 1979–80 Los Angeles Kings NHL 61 37 53 90 72 4 2 1 3 4 1980–81 Los Angeles Kings NHL 72 47 65 112 130 4 2 2 4 10 1981–82 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 39 67 106 130 10 4 6 10 20 1982–83 Los Angeles Kings NHL 46 21 37 58 76 — — — — — 1983–84 Los Angeles Kings NHL 63 20 49 69 91 — — — — — 1984–85 Los Angeles Kings NHL 79 41 51 92 132 3 2 2 4 8 1985–86 Los Angeles Kings NHL 76 33 38 71 110 — — — — — 1986–87 Los Angeles Kings NHL 67 18 44 62 84 5 2 3 5 6 1987–88 Los Angeles Kings NHL 68 26 41 67 129 5 3 3 6 6 1988–89 Los Angeles Kings NHL 70 26 37 63 80 11 1 5 6 19 1989–90 Los Angeles Kings NHL 58 15 26 41 96 6 4 4 8 6 1990–91 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 23 30 53 148 12 2 1 3 12 1991–92 Los Angeles Kings NHL 77 10 19 29 63 6 1 1 2 20 1992–93 Los Angeles Kings NHL 48 6 9 15 49 22 3 5 8 31 1993–94 Los Angeles Kings NHL 33 4 3 7 28 — — — — — NHL totals 1,111 431 638 1,069 1,589 92 26 33 59 149

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1983 Canada WC 10 1 4 5 4 1985 Canada WC 10 3 2 5 4 1986 Canada WC 10 3 4 7 12 Senior totals 30 7 10 17 20

Awards and honors Award Year College All-ECAC First Team 1976–77 AHCA East All-American 1976–77 NHL All-Star Game 1981, 1982, 1986, 1994 Second All-Star team 1981 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy 1991 King Clancy Memorial Trophy 1991