Kings ink forward Taylor Ward to 2-year extension

The Los Angeles Kings inked forward Taylor Ward to a two-year contract extension worth $1.75 million on Monday. 

Ward, 27, has played in nine games so far this season and has two goals and four points. He was recalled from the American Hockey League, the NHL's primary developmental league, on Jan. 7. Last season with the Ontario Reign, he scored 12 goals and had 15 assists in 66 games.

He made his NHL debut with the Kings last year on April 17, scoring a goal and marking the "first occasion a father-son duo has scored a goal for the Kings in team history," according to a news release on the team's website. 

Ward's father, Dixon Ward, played in 34 games with the Kings in the 1993-94 season. 

Before he was signed by Los Angeles as an undrafted free agent in 2022, Ward played college hockey at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He was born in Buffalo, New York.