You want a big name?
How about an ex-player who played in over a thousand NHL games, and put up 431 goals and 1069 points?
You want somebody with experience as a GM?
My guy has nine years.
Someone who can find stars in the draft?
You mean like Anze Kopitar, Olli Jokinen, Alexander Frolov, Mike Cammalleri, Dustin Brown, Cristobal Huet and Lubomir Visnovsky?
Can get deals done?
He brought in Luc Robitaille, Jozef Stumpel, Ziggy Palffy, Brian Smolinski, Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller, Jason Allison, Cliff Ronning, Derek Armstrong, Tim Gleason, Martin Straka, Anson Carter, Brent Sopel, Mark Parrish and Felix Potvin via trades.
Has made great coaching hires?
Well he did give Andy Murray his first head coaching job, Dave Tippett his first NHL coaching position and hired Bruce Boudreau to coach the minor league team.
Can manage the salary cap?
How about these two deals:
Alexander Frolov - 5 years, $14.5 mil in 2005
Lubomir Visnovsky - 4 years, $8 mil in 2004
You want a legend who played on one of the most famous lines in hockey and whose number hangs on the wall in an NHL arena?
Capable of building an Organization, almost from scratch?
You want somebody from Ontario?
Check. Check.. and Check.
A guy who's been around the game forever?
Thirty years in the NHL as a player and executive.
Yet young enough to not be out of touch with today's game?
He's just turning 52 and has many years ahead of him in the league.
An inspiration off-the ice who has been recognized for his perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the sport AND for for making a significant humanitarian contribution in the community?
As a player he won both the Bill Masterton Memorial and King Clancy Memorial Trophies.
Former Captain?
Yup.
Available?
I'd certainly think so.
Hungry for a Cup?
Starving.
You want an absolutely outstanding candidate?
Look no further than Dave Taylor.
His tenure in Los Angles was far from perfect. There were free agent disappointments like Steve Duchesne and a seemingly never-ending problem with goaltending. The team didn't have playoff success and struggled toward the end of his tenure.
But he walked into a tough situation and built up the organization:
* The Kings had missed the playoffs in four straight years
* They didn't even have a their own minor league team
* Their top line was Khristich with Tsyplakov and Yachmenev
* They had kept their first round pick just twice in the past six years (Jamie Storr and Aki Berg)
* In the last five drafts the team had drafted horribly with the picks they had kept. For example, here are the top three picks from each year:
1992 - Justin Hocking, Sandy Allan, Kevin Brown
1993 - Shayne Toporowski, Jeff Mitchell, Bob Wren
1994 - Jamie Storr, Matt Johnson, Vitali Yachmenev
1995 - Aki Berg, Donald MacLean, Pavel Rosa
1996 - Josh Green, Marian Cisar, Greg Phillips
Suffice to say that the cupboard was bare.
Right away Taylor made things better.
He got them into the playoffs in his first year and in four of five years.
He hired Andy Murray, who led the team to three straight 90+ point seasons.
They upset Detroit in the 2000 playoffs and gave Colorado a great series.
Ultimately though, this was a team built around three stars who all suffered career ending/altering injuries during their prime years, all within the course of a year:
Adam Deadmarsh had 42 goals in 96 games within a season and a quarter before his career was cut short far too soon.
Jason Allison had 102 points in 99 games as a King before missing over a year-and-a-half prior to the lockout.
Ziggy Palffy had 53 goals and 126 points in 111 games in the last season and a half of his NHL career.
They say injuries aren't an excuse but when you lose 1165 man-games to injuries over a two-year period (536 in 02-03 and 629 in 03-04), and your three best players permanently, there just isn't much a GM can really do. Even the injury replacements were getting hurt (see Straka, Martin and Carter, Anson).
After nine years at the helm, Dave Taylor was let go not long after he was forced to make a coaching change but couldn't get the team into the playoffs.
Andy Murray has since moved on to coach the St. Louis Blues and he's really played a huge role in getting the franchise turned around. He won a Gold Medal at the World Championships and he's also a leading candidate for Team Canada in 2010.
Dave Taylor stayed with the Kings briefly and then moved on to the Dallas Stars, where he was recently bypassed for the vacant GM position.
Thirty-four years ago Dave Taylor was an undersized forward at Clarkson University. He was drafted in the 15th round - 210th overall in the 1975 draft. He's been a Captain, an All-Star, a Leader, a Builder, the NHL Executive of the Year and an inspiration for his charitable work.
The next chapter in Taylor's career has yet to be written.
Anybody know a team that's looking for a General Manager?
Danny -
[email protected] 
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