Dave Taylor
Born (1955-12-04) December 4, 1955
Levack, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Right
Played for Los Angeles Kings
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 210th overall, 1975
Los Angeles Kings
WHA Draft 113th overall, 1975
Houston Aeros
Playing career 1977–1994
Medal record
Representing  Canada
World Championships
Silver medal – second place1985 Czechoslovakia
Bronze medal – third place1983 West Germany
Bronze medal – third place1986 Soviet Union

David Andrew Taylor (born December 4, 1955) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Los Angeles Kings from 1977 to 1994.[1] He featured in the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals with the Kings.

Following his playing career, he served as the Kings' general manager from 1997 to 2006, and currently serves as Vice-president of Hockey Operations with the NHL's St. Louis Blues.

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.[2]

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 three 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.[3]

Taylor also played 7 games with the Fort Worth Texans of the Central Hockey League during the 1976–77 season putting up 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 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.[4]

Taylor became captain of the Kings in 1985 after the departure of preceding captain Terry Ruskowski. He held the position until 1989 when it was overtaken by Wayne Gretzky. He would then serve as an alternate captain for the rest of his career.

In 1991, Taylor won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his dedication towards the Los Angeles Kings. He also won 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 Los Angeles Kings made the Stanley Cup Finals with him producing 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in 22 playoff games. The Kings lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the final in 5 games.

Taylor retired in 1994 as he was becoming less active in the NHL and his points were starting to decline. Until 2019, he held the Kings record for games played with 1,111 until it was broken by Dustin Brown and then Anže Kopitar.[5] 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 has appeared in four NHL All-Star Games in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1994. The Los Angeles Kings have retired #18 in his honor.[6]

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

Taylor was hired as the General Manager of the Los Angeles Kings in 1997 and held the position until 2006, when a front office reshuffling saw him assume the position of Director of Amateur Development. He also drafted future Kings superstars which include Anže Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick. With a record of 290-261-74-31, Taylor was the winningest GM in Kings’ history.[7] He later moved to the Dallas Stars and served as the team's Director of Player Personnel for three seasons.

Taylor was hired by the St. Louis Blues on July 1, 2010, as Vice-president of Hockey Operations. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019 and returned to his hometown of Levack with the cup.[8]

Personal

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.[9]

Taylor and his wife Beth currently reside near Los Angeles with their two daughters, Jamie and Katie.[10]

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 — — — — — —
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 [11]
AHCA East All-American 1976–77 [12]
NHL
All-Star Game 1981, 1982, 1986, 1994
Second All-Star team 1981
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy 1991
King Clancy Memorial Trophy 1991

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dave Taylor - Stats - NHL.com". NHL. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  2. ↑ "From Levack to LA: Dave Taylor's Incredible Career with the Kings". nhl.com. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Dave Taylor Named Clarkson University Trustee". Clarkson University. Archived from the original on 2013-01-30. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  4. ↑ "Triple Crown Line still resonates with Kings fans". NHL. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  5. ↑ "Dave Taylor player profile". Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  6. ↑ "Kings Retired Numbers". Los Angeles Kings. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
  7. ↑ Dave Taylor Vice-president of Hockey Operations http://blues.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=63247
  8. ↑ "Taylor holds up Stanley Cup in Ontario hometown". NHL. 12 July 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  9. ↑ The Stuttering Foundation - Dave Taylor http://www.stutteringhelp.org/famous-people/dave-taylor
  10. ↑ Dave Taylor Vice-president of Hockey Operations http://blues.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=63247
  11. ↑ "ECAC All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  12. ↑ "Men's Ice Hockey Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
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