2023 Kings Seasons In Review – Trevor Moore

After a slight delay for, you know, actual Kings news, we’re back and rolling with the season in review series, moving on to the second line. The second line this season had its ups and downs, with Trevor Moore at the forefront of that due to an injury that cost him multiple months of his season. Between some of what we saw last season, a large contract extension, the major injury and a strong finish, a lot happened for Moore this year. Mo(o)re on his season below.

Trevor Moore
LAK Statline – 59 games played, 10 goals, 19 assists, -2 rating, 14 penalty minutes
Playoff Statline – 6 games played, 1 goal, 2 assists, +3 rating, 0 penalty minutes
Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 53.7% (+1.7%), SCF% – 54.7% (+1.8%), HDCF% – 55.3% (+0.8%)

Moore’s season was, first and foremost, incomplete because of his first long-term injury and absence since joining the Kings. That absence impacted his middle to second half of the season, which fell in between stretches of play that were impactful. There were ups and downs along the path for Moore, who maintained the role he had a season ago when he was in the lineup.

Trending Up – The biggest news of Trevor Moore’s season – Five Moore Years. Moore committed his long-term future to the team he supported growing up by signing a five-year contract extension back in December. Moore’s 2021-22 season was a breakout campaign for a player who had filled a depth role prior to finally finding a home as a second-line fixture. Moore’s start to the season saw him on pace to exceed that production level (0.59 PPG to 0.64), leading into the contract extension that keeps a strong two-way player here for the long haul. Under Rob Blake, the Kings have shown a willingness to reward players who have grown and developed internally. Moore is the next in that line, as a player who developed from a small piece of a larger trade into a part of the Kings secondary core moving forward.

“I think he’s really fit into what we’re doing here the last couple of years,” Rob Blake said when Moore signed his extension. “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.”

Not every Kings player had a strong series against Edmonton, but Trevor Moore was one player who certainly did. Moore stands atop, or very close to the top, of the charts in just about every category looking specifically at the postseason. Whether it’s on-ice shot attempts for or against, on-ice scoring chances for or against, expected goals for or expected goals against, Moore ranked in the top three amongst Kings forwards at 5-on-5 in each category. He had the overtime game-winning goal in Game 3 and was one the ice for four goals for, compared to two against at even strength. We saw Trevor Moore be Trevor Moore in that series.

Trending Down – Speaking of Trevor Moore being Trevor Moore, it did take some time to get to that point. Moore’s midseason injury not only cost him a significant chunk of game action – between December 24 and March 8, he played in just five total games – but it also wasn’t an easy process to recover from. In those five games, he had just one assist, which was just one fewer than his two points in the ten games preceding his injury, during a stretch when Viktor Arvidsson missed time. When Moore was on, we saw the same, play-driving player we saw in 2021-22. In a fragmented season for various reasons, he just wasn’t on as consistently as he was down the stretch the season prior.

Looking at Moore within the context of his on-ice metrics, which fall mostly with his regular linemates Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson, most of the numbers looked relatively similar, season-over-season, but one number got aggressively worse – goals for. Moore’s goals against totals were nearly identical from a season ago, but his goals for column dropped by nearly a full goal per/60 from 2021-22. A lot of potential factors here, including a drop in offensive-zone starts, a lower on-ice shooting percentage and a massive drop in high-danger goals scored, despite similar high-danger chances. His individual goals scored metrics were identical to a season ago, on a per/60 basis, but looking at on ice, the total dropped significantly. The numbers pointed to more expected goals than went in the net. With more consistency in a lot of those factors, there’s hope that points to a reversal of that trend, at least in some way, to bring the nice line back to their best.

2023-24 Outlook– Moore signed the five-year contract extension back in December and that new deal kicks in with the start of the 2023-24 season. There are additional expectations that come with a contract of that stature. Moore outperformed his existing contract as he played at a second-line level with career-year production in 2021-22. Now, he’s getting paid like that level of player and will have to continue to meet those expectations.

Moore’s role moving forward, you would assume, will continue to be alongside Danault and Arvidsson should all of the pieces remain in place up front. That line was consistently used this season, even if their production levels fell a bit from a season ago. The hope would be getting all three of those members healthy at the same time entering training camp, building momentum heading into the season. Various injuries prevented that for pretty much the entire 2022-23 campaign, so here’s to hoping that changes moving forward.