Kings Closer to a Position for Taylor

The Kings are moving closer to finding a specific role for retired right wing Dave Taylor in their revamped front office.

Taylor, who announced his retirement in April after 17 seasons with the Kings, spoke with new owner Joseph Cohen last week and had a meeting with General Manager Sam McMaster on Thursday at the Forum. Taylor, 38, said he was pleased with the tone of both meetings.

McMaster said: “On the management side, there’s a tremendous amount of things he can do in the hockey and business aspects. I’m sure we’ll be able to make everybody happy. There are a lot of duties--communicating with Phoenix, working with some of our younger players, advance scouting and helping Mr. Cohen with the new building. There’s a lot to do here.”

Separately, McMaster said the Kings will probably have training camp this fall at their practice facility, Ice-o-plex, in North Hills. They have been at Lake Arrowhead for the last three seasons.

“We travel so much, why take them away for another five days?” he said. “I think they tried it (away), and I’m not sure it worked.”

The Kings are also completing arrangements for another three-year deal with their minor league affiliate in Phoenix.

To provide the Roadrunners with some scoring punch, McMaster has signed left wing Jeff Shevalier, who helped lead his junior team, the North Bay Centennials, to a berth in the Memorial Cup tournament. Shevalier, 20, was a sixth-round pick in the 1992 entry draft. The Kings did not offer a contract to goaltender Sandy Allan, a third-round selection in 1992, who will go back into the draft.