2024 Kings Seasons In Review – Trevor Moore

Into the homestretch of seasons in review with a look at the 30-goal man, Trevor Moore.

A terrific season from Moore, particularly the first half, as he buried 30 goals for the first time in his professional career. Perhaps just as importantly, Moore bounced back with 82 games played, coming off an injury-plagued season that saw him miss extensive time in 2022-23. A very solid performance in Year 1 of his contract extension, as one of the team’s most improved offensive producers year-over-year.

Trevor Moore
LAK Statline –32 games played, 31 goals, 26 assists, +11 rating, 28 penalty minutes
LAK Playoff Statline – 5 games played, 1 goal, 0 assists, -1 rating, 4 penalty minutes
NHL Possession Metrics (Relative To Kings) – CF% – 56.0% (+3.0%), SCF% – 54.5% (+1.6%), HDCF% – 55.9% (+3.8%)

Trending Up – Trevor Moore scored 31 goals. I believe that would stand without context as a positive from his 2023-24 season, no real supporting details needed, but hey we’re trying to beef these things up a bit. Moore led the Kings both in goals and even-strength goals. Perhaps what was most impressive about his number is that he did so without ever being on the top power-play unit. Of his 31 goals, 27 games at even strength. 27 even-strength goals were tied for the 13th most in the NHL this season. From the year 2000 on, the only King to record more than 27 even-strength goals in a season was Anze Kopitar in 2017-18, his should’ve been Hart Trophy campaign. Impressive stuff from the Thousand Oaks native.

While the raw totals are great, it wasn’t as if they came without some supporting data as well. Moore led the Kings in shots on goal per/60 among forwards with more than 50 games played and ranked second in individual high-danger chances per/60. Moore was a regular in generating chances off the rush and his on-ice numbers matched the individual metrics. No regular Kings forward was on the ice for a better margin of shots on goal controlled than Moore this season. When Moore was on the ice, not only was he shooting the puck and hitting the net but his teammates around him were doing the same. It fits the identity that his line has built. They’re a puck possession line and with Viktor Arvidsson out, someone needed to fill in for his goalscoring exploits. Moore picked up that slack, and then some, this past season.

It also should be said that Moore upped his offensive production without cheating the game defensively. Though his on-ice goals against was higher than his past two seasons, all of his chances against were down, with the lowest on-ice save percentage and lowest PDO he’s ever had in a full NHL season. The numbers that are more easily replicated trended positively from a season ago on the defensive end and it’s always nice to see a player who does play the game the right way and who works hard get rewarded as Moore did.

Trending Down – This is a theme in many of these articles but Moore’s offensive impact in the postseason was not what it was during the regular season. Moore scored just one goal from five games played and it was a late goal in the blowout loss in Game 1. For a player who was relied upon in a top-six role, Moore was one of many who did not deliver offensively during the five games played versus Edmonton. Raw numbers were down, underlying splits were down and naturally team results were not what they needed to be. It’s been the case for many individuals in these articles. Not enough guys delivered when needed in the postseason and Moore is included in that group.

It’s also fair to say there was an offensive drop off for Moore in the second half of the season, though I don’t think it was as drastic as it was made out to be at times. It also wasn’t nothing though. In the 2023 portion of last season, Moore ranked in the Top 15 in goals and the Top 10 in even-strength goals around the NHL. In the 2024 portion, he fell outside the Top 80 in total goals and was tied for 40th in even-strength goals. The numbers were close to even (17 vs. 14), though there were obviously more games in the second half. Essentially, a 40-goal pace finished at 31. Moore’s second half pace would have equated to 23 goals and 52 points over 82 games, which still would have been career highs in both categories and only five points shy of where his overall total wound up. So, there was a dropoff certainly but it really wasn’t all that bad.

2024-25 Outlook– Moore signed a five-year contract extension with the Kings in December of 2022, a deal which kicked in at the start of this season.

Shortly after signing that contract, Moore dropped out of the lineup due to injury, as he missed the bulk of the second half of last season. That created an unknown, to an extent, heading into his year. Breaking out offensively was huge but I think it meant as much to Moore to play in all 82 games. To do both more than justifies the deal that he signed and proves that side of decisions made to be correct, at least to date. The Kings made the right call in both signing and retaining Moore when mapping out their roster in 2023-24 and beyond. Moore maintaining his impact on the game, ideally with the offensive output to boot, is something the Kings will need to see continue going into next season, Year 2 of 5 on his current deal. Assume we’ll see him alongside Phillip Danault once again, an effective combination without a doubt.