Hockey's Grandfathers and Grandsons

Daniel Hendrikson interviews Mark Taylor for the latest edition of The Hockey News' online feature Backchecking.

Mark Taylor is the grandson of hockey's first superstar, "Cyclone" Taylor.

Taylor was 20 years old when his famous grandfather passed away. He remembers his grandfather telling stories of his playing days around the dinner table.

“He wasn’t one to brag about his past,” Taylor reminisced, “but if you asked him questions he would get into some stories. But it’s always the way with kids, you didn’t fully appreciate what you had until it was gone and then now sitting back I wished I could have asked him a thousand more questions about his accomplishments.”

Here's the full story.

Hockey has a lot of family connections, but it is pretty rare to see a grandfather/grandson combination.

Washington Capitals back up goaltender Brent Johnson is the only current NHLer whose grandfather played in the league. His grandpa was none other than Hockey Hall of Famer Sid Abel.

The great Howie Morenz's grandson played briefly in the NHL. Dan Geoffrion, who is also the son of Boom Boom Geoffrion, only lasted 111 games in the league.

Interestingly, Dan's son Blake is hoping to crack the NHL once he leaves the University of Wisconsin. That would not only make Boom Boom and Blake the next grandfather/grandson connection, but would make Morenz the first player to have a great grandson in the NHL.

Other grandpas/grandkids are Dit Clapper and Greg Theberge and Glenn Hall and Grant Stevenson.

Note in every case the grand father is a Hockey Hall of Famer, while the grandsons were all role players.

Update: I missed two NHL grandfathers in my post from earlier today.

Ron Hextall is the grandson of Bryan Hextall Sr., a great player with the New York Rangers way back in the 1940s. Note he is another Hall of Famer. Bryan Hextall Jr. also played in the NHL, as did Dennis Hextall, another son of Bryan Sr.

And the great Syl Apps, yet another Hall of Famer, is the patriarch of another three generation hockey family, although this one is a little bit different. Syl Apps Jr. was a good player in the 1970s NHL. Nowadays, grand-daughter Gillian Apps is one of the best female players in the world!