With a home on the second line, a productive Trevor Moore helping Kings continue winning ways

As we hit the halfway mark of the month of January, one member of the LA Kings sits atop the league leaderboard for most even-strength points since the calendar flipped to 2022. That player is none other than Trevor (of Thousand Oaks) Moore.

Powered by a career-high four points on New Year’s Day against Philadelphia, Moore has a quartet of multi-point games so far this month, including two assists in each of his last three games. Moore’s total points this month also place him in the leaguewide Top 10, while his 10 even-strength points are tied with three others for the most across the NHL.

After the 2021 portion of his season ended with seven total points, Moore’s offensive explosion has been a huge contributor to the team’s success as of late. With wins in five of the six games the Kings have played in 2022, things have gone well for both player and team. But what has changed with Moore’s play?

If you ask his head coach, not all that much. Todd McLellan feels that Moore was playing effectively all season, but has finally found a line to play with for longer than just a couple of games. And that has certainly helped.

“I think his start, we have some responsibility for his lack of production, the coaching staff, we played him everywhere,” McLellan said. “He was a center, a left wing, a right wing. He was on the top line, he was on the fourth line. He’s found a home there now, and he’s feeling comfortable there, they complement each other well, he’s got some confidence.”

For the 2021 portion of this season, think of Trevor Moore as this team’s Chone Figgins. I always used to draft Chone Figgins in fantasy baseball, because he had eligibility at every position, so you could just move him around as needed. That was Moore’s role on this team, perhaps to a fault.

His versatility made him extremely valuable, but it also made things challenging at times to settle in and produce at his highest level. While he never looked out of place, changing linemates every third game made it nearly impossible for Moore to establish any consistency with players on his line.

“I don’t know if he would tell you this, but I’m going to, I think finding a home on a line has been good for him,” McLellan said. “Jumping around all over the place is never good for anybody, but he was the one guy we trusted to do that.”

Sometimes, it might negatively impact the player to positively benefit the team. At times, that was the case for Moore, who was extremely valuable as he filled all sorts of roles for the Kings, though perhaps to the detriment of his own tangible production.

We heard you wanted Moore goals. #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/oV5ETpQTlm

— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 2, 2022

If we wrote this story back in December, it would have been about that swiss-army knife approach. Moore knows his path to the NHL hasn’t been one that’s been driven by his ability to create offensively. He was a high-level scorer at the NCAA level, and the AHL level, but he was told early on he’d have to contribute in other ways in order to become an established NHL player.

That’s what we saw last season and in the first half of this season. Even when the points weren’t there, it was hard to argue that Moore was an effective player in a variety of other ways.

“I think that if I tried to score my way into the NHL, it would have been really hard for me,” Moore said. “[My versatility] is something that I’ve really worked at, something coaches have told me is a good route to crack an NHL roster. It’s something I always try to have in my game and try to be consistent with.”

Now, Moore has found a stable home on the second line, playing alongside Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson. Moving Moore into the LW2 slot has allowed Alex Iafallo to move up with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, giving the Kings as versatile and consistent a group of top-six forwards as they’ve had all season.

When that line was originally put together, there was as much of an element of opportunity and necessity as anything else. With Dustin Brown and Iafallo both missing time due to COVID Protocol, an opportunity presented itself to Moore. He’s taken it and hasn’t looked back, though he’s not resting on his laurels of a guaranteed spot.

“I think I’m still trying to solidify that spot, I don’t think I can call it a home just yet, but it’s nice playing with those guys,” Moore said. “They really communicate well and they know what they want from their linemates and they communicate that. That’s helpful for sure.”

Moore’s combination of work ethic, quickness and tenacity has proven to be a natural fit on the left with Danault, one of the league’s best players in tight spaces, and Arvidsson, whose speed, playmaking and puck skills have thrived since moving alongside Danault.

While the offense has increased, the other things that Moore brings to his game haven’t gone anywhere. The positionally-sound, energetic and intelligent forward who endeared himself to Kings fans last season is still there.

“He does a lot of things that go unnoticed, positionally and physically,” McLellan said. “Now, he’s up on that line, that line has played well with him there and there is no discussion of yanking him off there at this point.”

Now, however, the points are coming right along with it.

It’s amounted to a trio that has controlled 66 percent of shots attempts when on the ice together, not to mention 73 percent of scoring chances and 74 percent of high-danger chances. They combined for seven goals at 5-on-5, compared to none against, with six of those seven goals coming from high-danger locations.

Coinciding with the strong puck possession numbers, so far this month, the three names atop the scoring charts for the Kings read Moore, Danault, Arvidsson. A line that took a few months to come together, but one that has certainly reaped the rewards of some time as of late.

Perhaps the best sign for Moore is that he doesn’t feel like he’s really done anything differently. Pucks have started to go into the net for both he and his linemates, resulting in the increased production.

“I would say it’s more of things just evening out [than doing anything differently],” Moore said. “I feel a little bit more confident right now, but I don’t think that was too much of a factor early on, things just weren’t going in. I just tried to keep my head down and keep doing the things that I know can make me a player that can be successful.”

However it’s happening right now, Moore and his line are certainly hoping to keep it going.