Dave Taylor (ice hockey)


David Andrew Taylor is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings from 1977 to 1994. 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.

Playing career

Taylor played collegiate hockey at Clarkson University, where he still holds the school record for career points goals and assists as well as single season goals assists and points in the 1976–77 campaign; in comparison, opposing teams scored a combined 127 goals on Clarkson that year.
Taylor was a member of the Triple Crown Line along with centre Marcel Dionne and left winger Charlie Simmer. All three scored more than 100 points in the 1980–81 season with the Kings; Taylor scored 112 points that season. Until 2019, he held the Kings record for games played with 1,111 and served as team captain from 1985-1989.
Taylor is the lowest-drafted player to net 1,000 career points, drafted in the 15th round of the 1975 NHL draft. The Los Angeles Kings have retired #18 in his honor.

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. 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.

Personal

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.

Awards and honors

Regular season and playoffs

International