LOS ANGELES — If you’ve been reading the previous installments of this series, you know that former Los Angeles Kings star right wing Dave Taylor had to threaten to play in the World Hockey Association (WHA) if the Kings didn’t sign him to a contract prior to his first National Hockey League training camp.
Then-Kings general manager George Maguire was definitely not one of the better general managers in the NHL, either at the time, or since. Not even close. But at the very least, he got one thing right: he gave in to Taylor’s demands, signing him to a two-year contract and getting him into training camp in 1977.