Dave Taylor (ice hockey)

For other people named David Taylor, see David Taylor (disambiguation).

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 1985 Czechoslovakia 1983 West Germany 1986 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 to record a hat trick in the same game. 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 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 and got a front-office position with the team as an assistant general manager. Until 2019, he held the Kings record for games played with 1,111 until it was broken by Dustin Brown and then Anže Kopitar. 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.

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. 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.

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.

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	—		—	—	—	—	—
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

See also

• List of NHL players with 1000 games played
• List of NHL players with 1000 points

External links

• Career statistics and player information from

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Peter Brown	ECAC Hockey Player of the Year 1976–77	Succeeded by Lance Nethery
Preceded by Tom Ross	NCAA Ice Hockey Scoring Champion 1976–77	Succeeded by Mike Eaves
Preceded by Gord Kluzak	Winner of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy 1991	Succeeded by Mark Fitzpatrick
Preceded by Kevin Lowe	Winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy 1991	Succeeded by Ray Bourque
Sporting positions
Preceded by Phil Latreille	NCAA Single-Season Points Leader 1977–1985 (shared with Phil Latreille)	Succeeded by Bill Watson
Preceded by Terry Ruskowski	Los Angeles Kings captains 1985–89	Succeeded by Wayne Gretzky
Preceded by Sam McMaster	General manager of the Los Angeles Kings 1997-2006	Succeeded by Dean Lombardi