Kings’ Trevor Lewis may be the last of his kind to hit 1,000 NHL games

Credit: Nov 23, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Trevor Lewis (61) on the ice during the game against the Seattle Kraken at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

A party was in the works. Family and friends were in town to celebrate. And then Trevor Lewis went down two shifts into Game No. 999 on Nov. 30, putting a milestone night on hold.

Now it’s been put on hold, twice. The Kings were set to honor Lewis and his family ahead of Wednesday’s game – fittingly against his former team, the Flames, and on his 38th birthday – but the game was postponed as a result of the devastating fires in Los Angeles.

No matter the date, that gleaming silver stick – the traditional NHL memento for 1,000 career games played – will be cherished forever.

And the wait for another player like Lewis hitting 1,000 games might also last… forever.

In today’s NHL, so laser focused on production where every point is counted against a dollar, it might not be possible to carve out a career as long as Lewis – a role player who never piled up points, but executed his craft to such specificity that it provided staying power for 17 years in the best league in the world.

“That’s a lot of checks, a lot of blocked shots for not a lot of glory,” former Kings teammate Mike Richards said. “That’s pretty awesome.”

Consider: Lewis is the 401st player in NHL history to reach 1,000 games played. Lewis has scored the third-fewest goals (101) of any forward with 1,000 games, ahead of only Craig Berube (61) and Donald Brashear (85). Put another way, Lewis has scored the fewest goals of any non-enforcer forward in the club.

The 82-game average for his career is eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points per year. Since ice time began being tracked in 1998, only Ottawa’s Chris Neil has played fewer minutes per game than Lewis (13:01) in the 1,000-game pantheon. Lewis also has the lowest shooting percentage of any 1,000-gamer.

Other role players instrumental to team success have achieved the feat, such as Kirk Maltby, Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Stajan and Tom Fitzgerald. But all of them had measurably higher offensive production. Five-time Stanley Cup winner Jimmy Roberts had 88 more points in the same number of games, was a three-time All-Star selection – and he split his time between forward and defense for the Canadiens and Blues.

In 2024-25, if a player posted three goals and seven points in 72 games as a minus-3, there’s a good chance that team is moving on the following year. But Lewis’ contribution wasn’t necessarily visible on the scoresheet, and that isn’t what the Kings, Jets and Flames expected from him.

“If you look at the minutiae of the game, all of the little things, [Lewis] is a superstar,” Kings Stanley Cup architect Dean Lombardi told MayorsManor.com “The object is to be a star within your role. You’re not going to win a championship unless every guy accepts a role and becomes a star in that role. The way sports is now, there’s all this glorification of the top players, which is great. But if you’re going to win championships, you have to have stars in their roles. This guy was a superstar in his role, no doubt about it.”

The intriguing thing about Lewis’ career arc is that he was previously an offensively gifted player. Lewis was a first-round pick (17th overall) in 2006. He was a 35-goal scorer in the USHL and north of a point-per-game player in the OHL. But Lewis had the intelligence and foresight to adapt when he and Kings realized he wouldn’t be able to contribute the same way at the NHL level. Most high-end picks never figure it out, or don’t make the transition with enough conviction to completely transform their game.

“Zero maintenance player,” said coach Darryl Sutter, who won two Stanley Cups alongside Lewis and brought him to Calgary. “He totally understood his role – a 24/7 player, someone that teammates and coaches can count on every day to give 110 percent.”

That dedication to his craft is why Sutter and his family flew to Los Angeles on Tuesday to be there for Lewis’ celebration.

“If Trevor was a student, he would no doubt be the teacher’s pet,” former teammate Justin Williams said. “In hockey, it was no different. He is a coach’s dream, which is attributed not only to his talent but his whole body of work as a hockey player. He takes on any role the team needs and is a great teammate whose happiness hinges on wins and losses, not how many times he puts the puck in the back of the net.”

Williams said he was “so genuinely happy” for Lewis and assumed all of his former teammates are as well, Richards included. League history is littered with players who had more talent but didn’t have the good fortune, health, or durability that kept Lewis climbing.

“That’s really awesome. 1,000 is 1,000,” Richards said. “He does all of the things great hockey players do. Even though the points aren’t always there, he always does everything right, reliable to be in the right place. He is an easy guy to play with.”

So, take a look across the league now. Of the similar forwards with 700-plus games under their belt, who will be the next Lewis? Ryan Reaves and Matt Martin aren’t in the same category as tough guys, and there is no guarantee they get to 1,000. Casey Cizikas is 145 games away and he might, but he’s also been more productive with a 20-goal year and four double-digit scoring years. Tampa Bay’s Luke Glendening is cut from the same cloth as Lewis, but he is 35 and has 175 games to go. The short answer is no one is knocking on the door.

Trevor Lewis may be the last of his kind.

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Kings’ Trevor Lewis may be the last of his kind to hit 1,000 NHL games

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