Throughout their rebuild, the Los Angeles Kings have parted ways with many of their older players, but one veteran that remains with the team is Trevor Lewis.
I had briefly glossed over his future with the Kings when predicting what next year’s forward group will look like but I wanted to do a separate article to focus on it a bit more. He’s been with the Kings for parts of 12 seasons and was a member of both the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup-winning teams.
But at 33 years old, Lewis just isn’t going to be part of the long-term plan for the Kings. Unfortunately, he isn't vital to the team and can be replaced and even in terms of production, Lewis isn’t where he was a few years ago. A few years ago, he was able to score between 25 and 30 points per 82 games, but this year, he managed just 12 points in 56 games. With his contract expiring, this is the easiest time to part ways.
On top of that, the Kings just have too many young forwards to try and find spots for to be able to justify extending Lewis. At this point, it should be a priority for Los Angeles to get young players into the lineup, in order to start assessing how each player projects long-term. There are only so many spots available in the lineup and with other veterans like Kopitar, as well as Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter still around, Lewis is the player that needs to go.
Lewis has been part of the team for a long time but the Kings are at a point in their rebuild where they need to be getting younger and unfortunately, Lewis shouldn’t be part of that transition.
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