Positives
First, the scoresheet: Trevor Lewis scored nine goals in 73 games played this season! That makes back-to-back career seasons for the Utah native, and you can credit a huge jump in shots on goal (143, almost two per game).
As a speedy, versatile forward capable of playing either wing position and center, Lewis has made himself a valuable utility player on a really cap friendly contract. And it’s not because of the scoring. For the second year in a row, Lewis was also a valuable forward at drawing penalties. He was second in least penalties taken on the Los Angeles Kings behind Anze Kopitar and third in penalties drawn behind Dustin Brown and Kopitar. Yes, that’s right, Dustin Brown had the best penalty differential this year.
As a penalty killer, Lewis does a solid job. He’s not the best, but that’s fine. I’m not sure if the team improved or if he as an individual somehow got better at shot suppression, but while on the ice, the team gives up 45.38 shots per 60, down two shots from a year ago. His even-strength Corsi Against per 60, on the other hand, is also down from 48.5 to 43.7, a career -est over the course of a full season. (You can see by the chart at the top of the article how well that number compares to the rest of the NHL.)
Further showing the defensive aspect of his game, Lewis had a career-best year in preventing scoring chances, with a team-leading 20.79 Scoring Chances Against/60 (just slightly better than the All World Jake Muzzin).
Negatives
Well, Lewis doesn’t do so well in most categories relating to offense. While he was actually pretty decent in generating scoring chances relative to his teammates and limiting scoring chances against, I’m inclined to think most of it was variance.
Overall in his career, Lewis has always been one of the worst players on the team at driving play. A year ago, he was fourth worst on the team ahead of such luminaries as Slava Voynov, Jordan Nolan and Robyn Regehr. Relative to his teammates, he was second worst; only Regehr was worse.
Above is Lewis’s WOWY (with or without you) chart. It’s inclusive of data from 2010-15. I wanted to have a large enough sample size to be able to parse out some patterns and because I had too many data points, I tried to limit it to mostly “core” guys and/or those he would’ve spent a significant amount of time with.
In general, most of his teammates did better away from him than when they were together or when Lewis was apart from his teammate.
It seems as though Lewis is buoyed by his stronger, more shot-driven teammates rather than helping them. For all his defensive excellence, the offensive excellence doesn’t follow.
Highlight
Lewis always scores the most hilarious goals on Anaheim Ducks goalies.
Going Forward
Lewis had a really good year but that offensive success is not likely to last. I expect he’ll be back to his regular, old stone hands self with fewer shots next year. He has one-year left on his two-year, $3 million extension and will be 29 years old when it expires. On the bright side, he got to play with Jack Eichel at the 2015 World Championships. That surely must lead to some exciting improvements next season.
Grade: B
I was torn between C+ and B- because in all measures, he really did have a pretty decent year — at least for his standards. However, since I’m grading it based solely on his 2014-15 season, I’m going with a B since we don’t do half grades.
Grade Trevor Lewis’ 2014-15 season.
| A | 9 |
| B | 30 |
| C | 12 |
| D | 1 |
| F | 0 |