Lawson Crouse did not make the transition from Arizona to Salt Lake City as seamlessly as some of his Utah Mammoth teammates did. In the Utah Hockey Club’s inaugural campaign, Crouse had his worst NHL season since 2020-21, finishing with 12 goals and 18 points in 81 games. This came after scoring 20 or more goals and reaching the 30-point mark in three straight seasons with the Arizona Coyotes.
During the offseason, we tried to identify the root of his struggles. However, there was nothing in the underlying numbers that should have led to such a drastic drop in production.
Related: A More Confident Lawson Crouse Will Lead to Bounce Back Season With Mammoth
This led me to believe that it was a confidence issue or something else going on with Crouse last season, and that we’d see him back to his usual self after a full off-season in Salt Lake City.
Lawson Crouse’s 2024-25 Struggles
Entering last season, Crouse was likely expecting to take a step back after being one of the Coyotes’ top offensive weapons for a couple of campaigns. Even though he had been effective, the reality was that Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley, the Mammoth’s stars of the future, were ready to take on full-time roles in the team’s top six. This forced Crouse down the lineup, and naturally, his production dropped with limited opportunity.
But to quote myself from the offseason (from related piece above)…
“Crouse’s loss of ice time last season was a significant contributor to his poor season, it does not tell the entire story. From the 2023-24 season to last season, he played 250 fewer minutes. The majority of this lost ice time came from special teams, specifically the penalty kill, where he played 113 fewer minutes than he had in the previous season.
With a significant portion of these minutes lost coming from the penalty kill, where offense is not expected, it does not explain a 57.14% drop in production when he only lost 33.86% of his power-play ice time and only 6.5% of his five-on-five ice time (via Natural Stat Trick).”
We often forget the human aspect when we look at stats. Leading into the season, not only did Crouse have to uproot his life from Arizona, but he and his wife also welcomed their first child in late August, shortly before training camp opened up for Utah’s inaugural season. To add to the pressure, he was named an associate captain, a unique designation, and different from alternate captain, in an attempt to honour his dedication to the team as the longest-tenured Coyote to make the transition to Utah, and for his leadership throughout the tough rebuilding years.
That is a lot of pressure on a player whose role on the ice was cut significantly. After only getting on the scoresheet twice through the first month of Utah’s season, his confidence understandably seemed shaken.
Toward the end of the season, Crouse spoke on this, saying, “I think it gradually chips away at you and then it gets to a point where it’s all kind of built up from however many games it has been.” He added, “I went through stretches where I felt like I was playing really good hockey, but I wasn’t producing, so then you get into your own head about your lack of production, your lack of goals, your lack of assists. I just started thinking about the wrong things, and that’s never good.”
Crouse’s 2025-26 Bounce Back With Utah Mammoth
Heading into the Olympic break, it was safe to say that Crouse’s self-doubt was gone. He has been the catalyst of the Mammoth’s run to the top wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference, with 14 goals and 29 points in 56 games. This is a 20-goal, 42-point pace if Crouse plays every game through the rest of the season, putting him in line with his best seasons with the Coyotes.
People might attribute the bounce-back to an increase in ice time, which is partly true. Crouse is averaging nearly three minutes more per game than he did last season. But again, like last season, that number doesn’t tell the full story.
Compared to 2024-25, Crouse is only playing an extra 25 seconds per game at five-on-five and is actually playing slightly less on the power play. Almost all of his increased ice time has come on penalty kill, where he is averaging 2:58 per game, compared to 45 seconds last season. Crouse likes to kill penalties to stay engaged in the game, but with two shorthanded points, it doesn’t explain his increase in offensive production.
In fact, his success this season comes down to regaining his confidence. He looks much more comfortable and willing to make plays with the puck, and that has led to him averaging a career-high 5.33 high-danger chances, which has also translated into him averaging a career-high 1.03 expected goals per 60 minutes at five-on-five.
Crouse’s size, physicality, and offensive skill set make him valuable. When the Mammoth were fully healthy, he looked great, producing and driving the offense on one of the Mammoth’s depth lines, but since Logan Cooley’s injury, Crouse has been great, complementing Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz in the top-six.
He has a versatile skill set that can impact the game in many ways, but when he’s playing the puck with confidence, he makes the Mammoth’s offense much more dynamic, and his production this season has been a significant factor in their improved consistency in 2025-26.
All Stats via Natural Stat Trick.
