Any longtime reader of Mayor’s Manor or listener of the podcast knows, two of our most favorite topics are Kings prospects and Kings history. Later tonight, Taylor Ward is set to make his NHL debut with the club — and when he does, he’ll instantly become the answer to a trivia question.
Taylor’s dad Dixon played for the Kings back in 1994. Thus, the Ward’s will become the first father-son duo to have ever played for the franchise in its 55+ year history.
About the closest things have ever come in the past would probably be when Rogie Vachon’s son Nick was in the organization’s minor league system. Coach Andy Murray had his son on the team for four games back in 2007. One of Darryl Sutter’s sons played in the AHL at the same time he was in LA, but that’s really it.
And the backstory of how it all came together is interesting, as well.
“My father and I came down yesterday to watch Taylor’s last three regular season games in Ontario,” Dixon told Mayor’s Manor early Thursday morning. “We got off the plane, drove two hours through traffic to Ontario, and as soon as we got there, I got a call from Taylor with the news. We turned around and drove back to LA.”
Now 56, and after hanging up his skates 20 years ago, the proud papa had no complaints about his extended travel stories this week. What’s about to happen is something he’s daydreamed about for quite some time.
“It’s a thought process anybody in the hockey world goes through over the course of their life, and especially when you have a kid that’s playing the game,” he said, when asked about the emotions he’s feeling heading into Taylor’s NHL debut. “You just never know, though. So, it’s mostly just excitement and relief. It’s a hockey game at the end of the day, but it’s also a recognition of all the effort, time, and energy — and all the good and the bad that’s come with it to get to this point. It symbolizes a culmination of efforts, good fortune, and all those things. We’re pretty excited for him, for sure.”
For some additional context, Dixon was a bit of a cult hero with the Kings for a short period of time during the Gretzky-era. After being drafted by Vancouver (in the seventh round) back in 1988, he eventually made his way to the Kings in a trade with the Canucks in January 1994… for longtime fan favorite Jimmy Carson.
He was also one of the players Barry Melrose often praised during that period because he ‘played the game the right way.’ In Dixon’s 34 games with the Kings that season, he scored six goals. Ironically, his last goal in a Kings sweater came in a home game against the Calgary Flames. Yes, the same opponent the Kings will face tonight.
As for Taylor, his backstory to get here has been filled with plenty of highs and lows. Things looked promising after last year’s playoff run with AHL Ontario. His line with Andre Lee and Sammy Helenius were clearly the team’s top line; something both coach Marco Sturm and LA GM Rob Blake pointed out on several occasions.
“That line, with big Sammy in the middle, playing with Andre and Taylor, they’re prototypical hockey players in the sense that when they were together, they go out there to play the game and to win the hockey game by contributing any way they can at both ends of the ice,” said Dixon. “It’s true, they play the game the right way, and you can see the results that Sammy is having now, and Andre too during the 20 games that he’s played with the Kings this year. Everybody that scores power play goals and gets a bunch of points and all those things, they get recognized, and everyone talks about those guys. But the end of the day, American Hockey League players are trying to fill spots in the bottom six of an NHL lineup. That’s who most of them are. You have to play the game that way, and that’s what those guys did. So, Taylor came into this year with a real good feeling.”
Unfortunately, things didn’t get to the best of starts for the 27-year-old winger.
“Well, he got hurt in that first exhibition game, and that set him back,” Dixon explained. “That was a tough one. Then, he got back healthy in Ontario, but a lot of things happened too that most people don’t know about. He tore his oblique muscle, and he played through that for six weeks. It’s just taken some time for him to get back to where he was at the start of camp. This last half of the season, he’s been back to where he should be. And so, that’s a good thing.”
Now only if Lee was called up too; perhaps Kings coach Jim Hiller would have reunited Taylor with Lee and Helenius, if even for one game.
There is something else still in play, though. Taylor also spent quite a bit of time in Ontario playing on a line with Akil Thomas and Alex Turcotte — with the former serving as his roommate too for several years while they were all with the Reign.
Either way, tonight will be a magical moment for the Ward family. Taylor’s mom is on her way to LA this morning, so she’ll join the party at Crypto.com Arena later this evening.
Tied into everything, Dixon is honored to claim the first father-son playing tandem in Kings history.
“The last thing I told Taylor last night is, no matter what happens from here on and out, someday, you and I will sit back, and we’re both going to be part of the same alumni association, which is pretty cool,” Dixon noted. “Obviously, I’m very proud of everything he’s accomplished. This is exciting for him, and it’s an exciting time for the family. It takes a long time to get to the NHL. It takes timing, it takes luck, and it takes opportunity. The Kings have signed him three times already, so it’s not like he was just a bit player in their plans. It just takes time for the opportunity to arise. Obviously, this is it, right? I knew he could play, I believe he should have been playing a long time ago, but I’m a dad. So, my opinion is irrelevant at this point. It was always something that we thought about, though. In Taylor’s mind, he was going to play in the NHL someday. No matter what, he never gave up the dream or the hope. And the people around him in this organization kept giving him good feedback, and this opportunity was going to come. Thankfully, it has today. Hopefully, it goes well.”
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Lead photo by Megan Sanders
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