Five Moore Years! Moore, Blake and McLellan weigh in on a new five-year extension

Five Moore Years!

Hard to think of many individuals more deserving than Trevor Moore, who inked a five-year contract extension with the Kings yesterday afternoon, which will keep him with the organization he grew up supporting through the 2027-28 season. Moore didn’t want to be anywhere but LA and the Kings didn’t want him to be anywhere but LA either. A match made in heaven.

“I wanted to be here, I didn’t want to have to go anywhere else, so it’s good feeling to just get it done,” he said, after yesterday’s game. “Now I can just focus on hockey and winning games.”

In the five hours after signing his contract extension? A team-high six shots on goal and the game-deciding goal in the shootout, as the Kings came from two goals down to defeat Boston. Not a bad start for his focus!

Some players are more involved in contract negotiations than others. Drew Doughty negotiated his own deal without an agent. Mikey Anderson said he really wasn’t involved at all until it came time to sign officially.

For Moore, especially being in-season, he leaned more in Anderson’s direction and let his agent handle the negotiations, coming into the process late when he needed to sign the deal.

“I wasn’t really that involved, I just let my agent take care of it and tried to focus on hockey,” he said. “You know it’s happening, so it’s always there, but I’m just glad it’s behind me.”

When he was acquired from Toronto back in 2020, Moore was an up-and-down guy from the Maple Leafs organization, who had played in AHL games in four consecutive seasons. As a part of the trade that sent Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford the other way, Moore was an intriguing roster player who was acquired by the Kings alongside a pair of draft picks.

In Toronto, he played his role effectively, but the Kings believed they were acquiring a player with more upside than he had produced to that point. Less than three years later, Moore is signing his second contract extension with the organization and is a key member of the team’s secondary core, alongside several others who have now been extended and locked into what Kings General Manager Rob Blake and his staff are trying to build.

“I think he’s really fit into what we’re doing here the last couple of years,” Blake said last night. “You saw a big step in his game last year alongside Phil Danault and he’s continued it, but he brings a lot of the leadership off the ice too, a lot of the qualities we look for to help keep this team moving forward. We’re excited to have him be part of that.”

Alongside players like Adrian Kempe, Alex Iafallo and Matt Roy, Moore joins a group of players in their mid-to-late 20’s who have broken out not only as NHL regulars, but as NHL contributors. Of that group, only Kempe was a first-round pick. Roy was selected in the seventh round, while Moore and Iafallo were undrafted. Joined by external acquisitions with more of a veteran status in Danault, Viktor Arvidsson and Kevin Fiala, Blake feels that the group behind the three core holdovers from 2012 and 2014 has now been rebuilt.

Now, like the others before him who were rewarded for their development with extensions, Moore has been as well, cementing his importance here with the Kings.

“Obviously we’ve got the three big guys in Quick, Doughty and Kopitar, but we’ve been pushing for these other guys,” Blake said. “Some were drafted, some were acquired but they’ve kind of come up together with [Moore], Kempe and Iafallo. Then you add Phil and Fiala into that mix and it gives us that extra level of leadership.”

ICYMI:

The Thousand Oaks Native is staying home 🥰

— LA Kings (@LAKings) December 16, 2022

Being a part of that group is something that was important to Moore, especially as he was never a guy who was guaranteed to reach the level that he has. Sometimes players get labeled, fairly or unfairly, based on their draft status.

For Moore, who came into the league undrafted, he’s had to overcome a label that perhaps gives others who were selected highly opportunities and status that he wasn’t. At times, Moore had to prove to others that he was an NHL player, whereas some others have to prove that they aren’t. He’s earned everything he’s gotten, including this contract.

“He didn’t have the top-10 pick title, he had to scrap for everything,” Kings Head Coach Todd McLellan said of Moore. “He was resurrected maybe with the trade and some people had to help him, but he took advantage of that help, now he’s rewarded for it. Now the hard work starts, you’ve got to live up to it. He’ll do it.”

As McLellan mentioned, Moore has had that support system in getting to this point, both on and off the ice.

Two seasons ago, when Moore was not yet a top-six player, McLellan detailed him at the time as an individual who others coming into the league should follow, because of his willingness to do some of the things that weren’t quite as glamorous as the point totals he’s putting up now. For sticking with it, when things were less certain, Moore credited his wife and his family for their support. Through all of the stresses and the lower points, getting to where he is now is that much sweeter.

“There were a lot of times where I never thought I’d make it this far,” he said. “I have a great family that supports me. My wife, she put up with me through all of my stresses. It’s just been a good feeling for sure.”

When you talk about players, or perhaps more importantly people like Trevor Moore, those are the types of individuals that you like to see rewarded.

McLellan believes that Moore is one of those cases, from the standpoint of the person as much as the player.

“Good things happen to good people,” McLellan said. “We can talk about the player but I prefer to talk about the person, because he means a lot to the organization. He’s a quality human being, he gives everything he has off the rink to the team, to the community, to his teammates. Everything he does on the ice is pretty evident. If you’re a fan and you have a favorite based on work ethic, there’s Lizzo, there’s Trevor Moore, there’s a few others but good things happen to good people. I’m happy for him and his family.”

Blake was inclined to agree.

“We like to say he plays the right way, but he also does the right things away from the rink,” Blake added. “So, when you put all of that together, you get a special player that you want to lock in.”

Now, with a long-term extension secured, the pride of Thousand Oaks is here to stay. And that makes just about everyone happy.