Lawson Crouse’s Patience and Leadership During Mammoth’s Rebuild Paying Off in Playoffs – The Hockey Writers – Utah Mammoth

Six years ago, Lawson Crouse played his first-ever playoff game. Most players skate out into big and loud crowds, amped up to cheer on their home team. Crouse skated out to silence outside of the music and the noises of players skating and shooting pucks. There were zero fans in the stands. 

When his team won their play-in round against the Nashville Predators, Crouse couldn’t go out on the streets and celebrate because he and the Arizona Coyotes were in a bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a completely different experience, especially with no fans, one Crouse laughed about with it now being six years in the rearview mirror.

“There was essentially no playoff atmosphere because we were in Canada with no fans,” Crouse said. “It was nice to get that playoff experience back then in the NHL, but it was definitely a different year.”

That was the last time Crouse played in a postseason game until this season. After the team was steamrolled by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, the Coyotes hired Bill Armstrong as general manager and went into a five-year rebuild. 

For Crouse, he could’ve requested a trade out of Arizona as other players did. He had already been through three seasons of losing under former general manager John Chayka. Going through five more that arguably were even tougher was basically taking away years of Crouse’s career, where he could be competing for a Stanley Cup.

Yet Crouse stuck through it all, and six seasons later, he’s one of the most important players in the Utah Mammoth’s locker room. One who has been praised by coaches and players alike for his leadership on a consistent basis all season long.

Leadership Comes Naturally for Crouse

There are only four players remaining on the Mammoth’s roster who were on the Coyotes’ 2020 playoff roster. Only two players remain on the roster who were a part of Chayka’s early years of the rebuild. Those players are Clayton Keller and Crouse. 

Crouse’s first pro season saw him play 72 games with the Coyotes, quite impressive for a guy who had played only two American Hockey League (AHL) games the prior season. While he did play most of the next season in the AHL, the following year, Crouse was never in the minors again, playing the next six seasons exclusively for the Coyotes.

He became a significant part of the Coyotes over those six years. In his final three seasons with the Coyotes, Crouse scored 20 or more goals in each of those campaigns, even tallying a career-best 45-point season. Despite the personal success, the team was still rebuilding. It’s not like Crouse loved playing on a rebuilding team, but he believed in what they were building.

“Playoffs are where you want to be,” Crouse said. “It’s what you grind throughout a full hockey season to get towards. Throughout my career, we’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs and a lot of growing pains. It’s definitely a nice feeling to finally get here.”

Suddenly, as an older player on a significantly younger team, Crouse found himself as someone guys like Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther learned from. That was nothing new to Crouse.

Even as a kid, the values of leadership and being the best person you can be were instilled in Crouse. Because of the way he was raised, being a leader came naturally to him. It’s something that even way back when he signed a five-year extension as a 24-year-old, he wanted to be.

“I just try to approach things the right way, whether it’s hard work or just trying to do the right thing, day in and day out, and just being consistent,” Crouse said. “That was preached to me at a very young age: to be consistent, be a good person, and good things will happen.”

If you ask any player in the Mammoth locker room about Crouse, they’ll say nothing but good things about him. Take, for example, MacKenzie Weegar. The newest Mammoth defenseman has only spent around two months in Salt Lake City, is four years older than Crouse, and has played more than double the number of playoff games as Crouse. Yet when asked about him, Weegar couldn’t help but smile.

“He’s a great leader,” Weegar said. “He brings it all. He’s a guy that you look to down the bench when the game’s tight, and to calm everybody down. He had a great game. I think he’s been waiting for this moment for a long time, so I’m happy for him, and I know he’s going to continue to play a great game.”

Last season, when the team played its first season in Utah, Crouse struggled. He only scored 12 goals and produced 18 points. For the first time in his career, he was a healthy scratch in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a challenging season, and Crouse was the first to admit that.

Crouse mentioned that his mental game wasn’t good enough, and he was too hard on himself for most of the season. However, he wanted to fix it himself, and sure enough, he did. In 81 games this season, he once again hit the 20-goal plateau, scoring 24 and producing 44 points. He also found himself back on the top line alongside Keller and Nick Schmaltz, helping the line be the Mammoth’s most consistent line throughout the whole season.

Throughout the two seasons in Utah, despite disappointment in the first year and getting back to his game in the second, Crouse was that person in the locker room that he said all the way back in Arizona that he wanted to be. That’s what impresses head coach André Tourigny the most. Not the goals, not the points, but the leadership and the respectable human being that Crouse is.

“He’s a hell of a man,” Tourigny said. “There’s nothing I can ask him that will be too small or too big a detail for him…If I tell him to open the door tomorrow, he will open the door. That’s no problem. Coach, pass the water. He will pass the water. There’s no ego in that sense. He will do whatever the team needs to win, and whatever he needs to do to be better.”

Backing Up His Words in the Postseason

That leadership has come up huge in helping guide the young Mammoth team into a playoff spot and into a tight and competitive series with the Vegas Golden Knights. In the first two games of the series, the top line of Keller, Schmaltz, and Crouse wasn’t that effective. Just like at the end of the 2024-25 season, Crouse owned up to that, saying his line needed to be better.

Crouse doesn’t just say something to say something. He backs up his words with actions, and he did exactly that in Game 3, scoring two goals, including the game-winning goal to secure the Mammoth’s second win of the series. 

Crouser cashes in! 💰

3-0, Utah. pic.twitter.com/MVc54dsNea

— x – Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) April 25, 2026

It was an exciting moment for Crouse as he got to play in front of his friends and family in the postseason for the first time in his career. His wife, Claire, who has supported him every step of the way and has taken care of their young daughter, Isabel, when he’s gone, showed her excitement in an Instagram story that has since gone viral. His two goals weren’t just an achievement for him but an achievement for his whole family.

“They’re kind of the backbone of us,” Crouse said. “Everyone sees us on TV, but they don’t see what goes on behind the scenes and late night with kids, the solo parenting for the majority of the season.”

I asked Lawson today if he saw Claire’s Instagram story.

“I did. She told me about it right away. Yeah, I thought that was funny.”#TusksUp https://t.co/k2VVErbXxT

— Chase Beardsley (@ChaseBeardsley_) April 26, 2026

Funny enough, those two goals tied Crouse’s goal totals from the 2020 playoffs. His second goal broke his postseason point record as well.

Perhaps that’s a sign of how far Crouse has come in his career and his life. In 2020, he was 22 years old, coming out of one rebuild and going into another one. Now, at 28, he’s stuck with a core he put his trust in, something he didn’t have to do. That trust has paid off. Six years later, he’s back in the playoffs, playing some of the best hockey of his life, and having some of the most fun he’s had in his career.

When he reflects on his journey, Crouse is proud not just of himself for seeing the rebuild through, but also of the other players like Keller and Schmaltz, who did the same thing. He’s proud of what he’s accomplished as a leader and a human being, and he’s excited for the bright future ahead.

“I’m very proud of the group, but even more proud of the day one core that’s grinded through a lot,” Crouse said. “We’ve gone through a lot of pain to get here, so I’m really looking forward to continuing to play in the playoffs.”

If Crouse requested a trade out of the organization years and years ago, sure, the Mammoth would’ve probably made the playoffs around the same time they did with him. However, the locker room is stronger with the leadership of Crouse. The Mammoth’s associate captain does a lot more than what people see on the ice, and it’s a big reason why the team is as good as it is.