Throughout the history of professional hockey, a trio of forwards are put together by a team and instantly generate magic together on the ice. While we don’t see a lot of combinations stay together for extended periods these days due to player movement, fans of the game back in the 1980s were treated to something special in the form of the Triple Crown Line made up of Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor, and Charlie Simmer.
For the first decade of their existence, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings enjoyed moderate success on the ice. In 1974-75, the club was buoyed to a franchise record 105-point finish – but were eliminated in the first round of playoff action by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While the Kings were loaded up with a solid crew of players, they lacked an elite scorer in order to go to the next level. The success of 1974-75 was in part due to an All-Star performance in net from future Hall of Famer Rogie Vachon – but there was a great cast of solid defenders along with seven players that potted over 20 goals.
Southern California’s First Hockey Superstar
At the time, free agency was a very loose concept in NHL circles and many players with expiring deals would jump to the WHA for more money since movement in the senior loop was near-impossible unless you were traded. Detroit Red Wings center Marcel Dionne had become increasingly frustrated with a losing culture in the Motor City. With four seasons under his belt and no playoff appearances, he was starting to emerge as one of the game’s superstars. In 1974-75, he was awarded the Lady Byng Trophy thanks to his gentlemanly play and hit the century mark for the first time with a 121-point performance.
From a modern perspective, a season like that would make an impending free agent a hot commodity and Kings owner Jack Kent Cooke made an offer that Dionne could not refuse. The deal was for a reported $300,000 a year and made the former second overall pick (1971) the highest-paid player in the game on June 17, 1975.
The only glitch, however, was that the league’s rules on free agency required compensation going back to the team losing a player. Less than a week later, a trade was constructed where Dionne and Bart Crashley for Terry Harper, Dan Maloney, and a second round pick in 1976. The deal was timed perfectly for collectors as his 1975-76 O-Pee-Chee and Topps cards feature him with his new team.
However, the photo on the card does pose a few questions. Since it was designed during the summer of 1975, the creative folks at Topps assumed that Dionne might still wear the number 12 as he did in Detroit. Conveniently, a quick airbrushing solved that problem, but Dionne would adopt number 16 once the season began as Gene Carr kept his digits.
Acquiring The Perfect Linemates
What the Kings did not realize at the time as well was that they already had the rights to another player that would become one of the best in franchise history. At the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft, one of the greatest sleeper picks of all-time happened as Dave Taylor was taken 210th overall out of Clarkson. Scouts were skeptical of his ability to survive the rigors of pro hockey due to his thin frame, but he displayed offensive talent at the collegiate level which made him a worthwhile risk for Los Angeles. Taylor spent two more years in school and capped it off with 108 points over just 34 games in 1976-77.
Dionne’s first two seasons in California helped the Kings maintain their status as a contender and 1976-77 saw him hit the 50-goal mark for the first time in addition to setting a new personal high with 122 points.
Heading into 1977-78, the Kings made a major off-season move by picking up Simmer as a free agent. Formerly part of the California Golden Seals/Cleveland Barons organization, he had shown promise in limited NHL action to that point, but it would be a little while before he was ready to become a regular with his new club. The Kings did call him up for a three-game shot in late December, 1977, but instead, he’d spend the majority of the year in the AHL with the Springfield Indians and averaged over a point per game.
By comparison, Taylor was able to slide into the lineup and debuted against the Barons on Oct. 10, 1977. As a freshman, he put a respectable 43 points over 64 games, and he would appear on a hockey card for the first time in the 1978-79 O-Pee-Chee release. The photo on the card, taken by Jerry Wachter, can be narrowed down to two different games in his freshman campaign – either Nov. 8, 1977 (his sixth career game) or Jan. 4, 1978 due to the fact that Bob Sirois of the Washington Capitals appeared in only those two home games against Taylor that season.
Bringing It Together
At the mid-point of the 1978-79 season, the Kings were struggling a bit and were below the .500 mark. While Taylor was beginning to break out as sophomore and had 49 points over the first half and Dionne was being his usual spectacular self, the need for a strong performer on the left wing side was apparent and Simmer was called up from Springfield.
It was a move that changed the franchise forever as the three players clicked immediately. They skated together for the first time on Jan. 13, 1979 as the Kings paid a visit to the Red Wings. Los Angeles won that contest 7-3 as Dionne scored four times and Taylor lit the lamp once in addition to Simmer recording an assist to kick off a nine-game point streak. By the end of the regular schedule, the new addition posted 21 goals and 27 assists over just 38 appearances while Dionne and Taylor both finished among the top 10 highest scorers in the league with 130 and 90 points respectively.
With roughly half a season together, the newly-dubbed Triple Crown Line was on the path to glory in 1979-80 as the NHL welcomed four new clubs that were formerly in the World Hockey Association. Despite the high-octane offense they were getting from the first line, the Kings struggled to get above .500 around the All-Star break in early February. Dionne was atop the scoring race for much of the season, but he was being chased by Wayne Gretzky during the second half. Ultimately, the pair tied with 137 points at the end of 80 games, but Dionne walked away with the Art Ross Trophy due to having 53 goals against 51 from the teenaged Gretzky.
Taylor hit the 90-point mark for the second straight year, but it was Simmer that grabbed plenty of headlines due to a record 13-game streak where he scored 17 times. At the end of the year, he was tied for the league lead in goals with 56 alongside Buffalo Sabres sniper Danny Gare and Blaine Stoughton of the Hartford Whalers.
Hollywood Heroes and Hockey Sock Rock
It was also around this time that the worlds of hockey and entertainment intersected in the name of charity and the Triple Crown Line went along for the ride. Some members of the New York Rangers participated in a song called “Hockey Sock Rock” to help benefit Juvenile Diabetes while the Los Angeles trio, dubbed Dionne and the Puck-Tones, was offered the B-side of the record with “Forgive My Misconduct“. Both tunes were the product of known hockey aficionado Alan Thicke, but don’t expect a musical masterpiece if you dare track a copy down and put it on your turntable.
The 1980-81 season marked the peak of the Triple Crown Line and it coincided perfectly with the 1981 NHL All-Star Game at the Fabulous Forum. With new additions to the roster like future Hall of Famer Larry Murphy and franchise fixture Jim Fox, the Kings were finally ready to be a more serious contender. Goaltender Mario Lessard had a career year and Murphy set a new record for most points by a rookie blueliner with 76.
O-Pee-Chee and Topps sets for 1980-81 also had plenty of cards related to Dionne, Simmer, and Taylor’s exploits the previous season. Topps came out stateside in the fall and their cards had a black waxy coating over player names for a Who Am I? game, but O-Pee-Chee’s January release thankfully avoided this gimmick.
A year can make all the difference and the Kings, sporting a newly-redesigned jersey, were among the NHL’s best by the time the mid-season classic came around. At the time, they had a 32-17-8 record and naturally, the Triple Crown Line were starting for the Wales Conference. The night ended in disappointment, though, as the Campbell Conference prevailed.
As the schedule wore on, fans were witnessing history as Simmer, Dionne, and Taylor all approached the 100-point mark. No other line in NHL history had managed such a feat and Simmer was also chasing immortality in the quest to be one of the few to score 50 goals in 50 games. On Jan. 24, 1981, he made it to 49 in 50 thanks to a hat trick against Boston and hit the 50 mark for the second straight year two days later while visiting the Quebec Nordiques.
Dionne was the first to the century mark thanks to an assist against Chicago on Feb. 12, 1981, and Simmer’s joined him two days later during a win over the Bruins. Another month would pass before Taylor’s five-point night against the Minnesota North Stars made the trifecta and this moment was celebrated on a Record Breakers card in the 1981-82 O-Pee-Chee set.
Unfortunately, Simmer was out of the lineup due to injury when this happened as he sustained a broken leg on March 2, 1981 in a battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Kings went 8-3-4 the rest of the way and were favored against the New York Rangers in the opening round of the playoffs. The Broadway Blueshirts had other ideas, though, and needed four games to close the best-of-five series that featured a memorable bench-clearing brawl (and 259 penalty minutes!) in Game 2.
Losing Momentum
The Triple Crown Line would spend three more seasons together as a unit, but the overall fortunes of the Kings began to slide. In 1981-82, Simmer missed 30 games before returning to action while Taylor and Dionne managed to each record over 100 points again. In the playoffs, the Kings played spoilers against the Oilers in one of the decade’s most memorable clashes, but were knocked out in the second round by Vancouver.
Taylor was out for a large chunk of 1982-83 and the Kings fell to the bottom of the Smythe Division and missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. A similar fate awaited them in 1983-84. While Simmer and Dionne each chipped in 92 points, Taylor was only good for 69.
On Oct. 24, 1984, the Triple Crown era officially ended when Simmer was sent to the Boston Bruins for a future first rounder (Dan Gratton) that never panned out. Dionne remained with the Kings until late in 1986-87 before being shipped away to the Rangers, but Taylor spent his entire career with Los Angeles. Today, he still remains fourth on the team’s all-time scoring list with 1,069 while Dionne is on top with 1,307.
Dionne is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Simmer has had an excellent broadcasting career, but Taylor might warrant some Hall of Fame consideration over time due to his success as an executive with the Kings, Dallas Stars, and St. Louis Blues – where he earned a Stanley Cup ring as VP, Hockey Operations.
Strong Cardboard Legacy
Modern collectors often see the Triple Crown Line on cards, whether individually or as a trio. The first time they appeared together on cardboard since their heyday was in 2003-04 Be A Player Ultimate Memorabilia on a Linemates card limited to 10 copies, but the following season saw a slight boom in retired player releases and they were on cards from In The Game and Upper Deck. The first certified autograph for the Triple Crown Line came in 2004-05 UD Legendary Signatures and was numbered to 50, but there have been several since with the most recent being from 2020-21 SP Signatures Legends.
Putting together a collection focusing on the Triple Crown Line is not terribly difficult as cards from their heyday are plentiful. The multi-signature cards are relatively attainable, but there are also lots of authentic signed items out there such as pucks and photos which are a strong alternative.
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