There are no free rides in the NHL, not even for the son of a Jack Adams Award winner.

Everything Nolan got in his hockey career, he earned. The son Ted Nolan, the 2006-07 NHL Coach of the Year, Jordan worked his way up after being selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the seventh round (No. 186) in the 2009 NHL Draft to become a reliable depth player and sparkplug on a championship team.

Nolan uses his size (6-foot-3, 219 pounds) to play a hard, physical game, crashing the boards, occupying the area in front of the crease and lining up opponents for big hits. He made his NHL debut on Feb. 11, 2012, against the New York Islanders. The next day he scored the game-winning goal for his first NHL point in the Kings' 4-2 victory against the Dallas Stars.

Nolan quickly became a regular for the Kings. In the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he appeared in all 20 games as Los Angeles won its first title. Nolan made his NHL playoff debut April 11, 2012, in Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks. His first NHL playoff goal, on May 6, 2012, opened the scoring in the Kings' series-clinching 3-1 win in Game 4 of the second-round against the St. Louis Blues. Nolan got his first NHL playoff assist May 30, 2012, against the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Nolan, whose brother Brandon played six games with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2007-08, got his first multipoint game in the NHL with a goal and an assist in a 3-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 13, 2013. Nolan appeared in three games of Los Angeles' run to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

Prior to his NHL career, Nolan played for Manchester of the American Hockey League, where in 2010-11 he was third among rookies on the club in goals (five), assists (12) and points (17) and played 75 games. He also was third on Manchester with 115 penalty minutes.

In 2008-09 he tied for fourth in the Ontario Hockey League with 158 penalty minutes for Sault. Ste. Marie. He led the team with 43 points, was second with 27 assists and third with 16 goals.