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Taylor Is 353rd Player To Play In NHL After ECHL

Published on March 29, 2008 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Danny Taylor, who played in the ECHL with Bakersfield, Reading, Texas and Wheeling, became the 353rd player to play in the National Hockey League after playing in the ECHL when he played the final period and made eight saves for the Los Angeles Kings in a 7-2 loss to Dallas on Saturday.

Taylor is the fifth player who has played in both the ECHL and the NHL this season joining Chris Beckford-Tseu (Alaska and St. Louis), Joe Jensen (Wheeling and Carolina), Dan LaCosta (Elmira and Columbus) and Jonathan Quick (Reading and Los Angeles).

He is the 24th former ECHL player to play his first NHL game this year and the 208th to make his debut in the past seven seasons. In each of the last nine NHL seasons there have been at least 20 former ECHL players who have played their first NHL game including 41 in 2003-04 and a record 47 in 2005-06.

The Premier 'AA' Hockey League has affiliations with 26 of the 30 teams in the NHL, marking the 11th consecutive season that the league has had affiliations with at least 20 teams.

Selected in the seventh round (221st overall) by Los Angeles in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, the 21-year-old Taylor began the season in Reading where he was 3-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.64 and a save percentage of .917 in three games before being reassigned to Manchester where he is 13-5-2 with four shutouts, a goals-against average of 2.40 and a save percentage of .921 in 23 games.

He was named the Rbk X-Pulse/AHL Goaltender of the Month for January after going 5-0-0 with three shutouts, a goals-against average of 0.87 and a save percentage of .972 in six games.

Taylor was named the Rbk Hockey/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 27 after a shutout streak of 190:36. The AHL weekly award has been won by 10 ECHL players with Sean Curry (Dec. 16), Jaroslav Halak (Jan. 6), Grant Stevenson (Jan. 20), Danny Taylor and Miika Wiikman (Jan. 27), Andrew Gordon (Feb. 11), Drew MacIntyre (Feb. 25), Karl Goehring (Mar. 2), Barry Brust (Mar. 9) and Julian Talbot (Mar. 23).

In his rookie season in 2006-07, Taylor was 3-1-0 with a goals-against average of 2.51 in six Kelly Cup Playoff games and 0-1-0 with a goals-against average of 1.62 in two regular season games for Texas. He also played for Wheeling where he was 0-0-1 with a goals-against average of 3.87 in one game and for Bakersfield where he was 7-7-1 with a goals-against average of 4.33 in 17 games.

Twenty-six former ECHL players made their NHL debut in 2006-07, including two who played in both the ECHL and the NHL as goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji played for Reading and Los Angeles while defenseman Bryan Young skated for Stockton and Edmonton. Dave McKee played for Augusta and dressed for five games as the backup goaltender for Stanley Cup champion Anaheim.

There are 15 coaches in the NHL who have ECHL experience including former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette, who is head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Mississippi coach Bruce Boudreau, who is head coach of the Washington Capitals.

The ECHL is represented for the seventh consecutive year on the National Hockey League championship team in 2007 with Anaheim assistant coach Dave Farrish, players Francois Beauchemin and George Parros and broadcasters John Ahlers and Steve Carroll.

Former ECHL players that have played their first NHL game in 2007-08 are: former Peoria Rivermen and Alaska Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu (St. Louis on Feb. 21), former Florida Everblades center David Brine (Florida on Feb. 2), former Idaho Steelheads right wing B.J. Crombeen (Dallas on Jan. 19), former Gwinnett Gladiators left wing Kevin Doell (Atlanta on Jan. 4), former Alaska defenseman Zack FitzGerald (Vancouver on Feb. 5), former Columbia left wing Alex Foster (Toronto on Mar. 18), former Fresno goaltender Thomas Greiss (San Jose on Jan. 14), former Roanoke Express and Wheeling Nailers left wing Jason Jaffray (Vancouver on Dec. 12), former Wheeling Nailers left wing Joe Jensen (Carolina on Feb. 18), former Dayton and Elmira goaltender Dan LaCosta (Columbus on Mar. 25), former Toledo Storm goaltender Drew MacIntyre (Vancouver on Dec. 13), former San Diego Gulls left wing Cody McLeod (Colorado on Dec. 19), former Alaska Aces and Pensacola Ice Pilots center Chris Minard (Pittsburgh on Jan. 21), former Columbia Inferno center Brandon Nolan (Carolina on Dec. 22), former Johnstown Chiefs and Fresno Falcons goaltender Dmitri Patzold (San Jose on Oct. 7), former Gwinnett Gladiators and Louisiana IceGators left wing Pascal Pelletier (Boston on Jan. 17), former Reading Royals goaltender Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles on Dec. 6), former Stockton Thunder left wing Liam Reddox (Edmonton on Dec. 7), former Gwinnett Gladiators left wing Colin Stuart (Atlanta on Dec. 29), former Bakersfield Condors, Reading Royals, Texas Wildcatters and Wheeling Nailers goaltender Danny Taylor (Los Angeles on Mar. 29), former Columbus Chill, Richmond Renegades and Trenton Titans left wing Pete Vandermeer (Phoenix on Feb. 10), former San Diego goaltender Tyler Weiman (Colorado on Oct. 4), former Charlotte Checkers right wing Craig Weller (Phoenix on Oct. 4) and former Phoenix RoadRunners center Daniel Winnik (Phoenix Coyotes on Oct. 4).



ECHL
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2007-08, the ECHL is the Premier 'AA' Hockey League and the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League.

ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 25 teams playing 900 games in 17 states and British Columbia in 2007-08.

The league officially changed its name to ECHL on May 19, 2003.

The ECHL has affiliations with 26 of the 29 teams in the American Hockey League in 2007-08 and for the past 17 years there has been an ECHL player on the Calder Cup champion.

In each of the last two seasons there have been more than 225 players who have played in both the ECHL and the AHL and there were over 800 call-ups involving more than 500 players.

In the last five seasons the ECHL has had more call-ups to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined with over 2,000 call-ups involving more than 1,000 players since 2002-03.

Further information on the ECHL is available from its website at ECHL.com.

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