The inaugural season for the Utah Hockey Club (now the Utah Mammoth) is officially over. The team finished with a 38-31-13 record while their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, finished with a 34-32-4-2 record, which was good enough for the seventh playoff spot in the Pacific Division. The Roadrunners went on to lose in the first round of the playoffs 2-1 to the Abbotsford Canucks.
With the season in the books, it’s time to look at the 48 Utah players under an NHL contract (excluding Connor Ingram for obvious reasons) and grade their 2024-25 seasons. We’ll also reflect on how they did during the 2023-24 season and see if they improved or did worse, along with what their future holds. We’re going alphabetically by first name. Next up is Lawson Crouse.
Last Season
Coming off a career-high 45-point season with the Arizona Coyotes, Crouse was expected to produce at a similar rate heading into the 2023-24 season with a better roster around him. He began the season on a line with Michael Carcone and Nick Bjugstad. However, he would go pointless in his first five games before producing his first point against the LA Kings.
His point against the Kings kick-started a stretch of five games where Crouse got on the scoresheet, including a two-goal game against the Anaheim Ducks. Exiting October and heading into November, Crouse was becoming one of the best goal scorers on the Coyotes, scoring 10 goals in 14 games.
Crouse’s goal scoring continued into December as he produced six goals in 13 games. He was also moved to the second line with Bjugstad to play with Matias Maccelli.
Related: Utah Mammoth’s 2024-25 Report Cards: Kevin Stenlund
In the second half of the season, Crouse put up decent numbers, but nothing like he had in November and December. He scored his 100th career NHL goal in February, which also happened to be his 20th of the season. It marked the third straight season in which the forward hit the 20-goal plateau.
In March, Crouse was placed on a line with Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther. It came around the time when he was suffering through a nearly 20-game goal drought, which he eventually broke when he scored against the New York Rangers in the last game of the month.
Crouse scored in the final Coyotes game to finish out the season with 42 points in 81 games, placing him seventh on the team. It was his second-best season in his career to date. He finished with 23 goals, which was second best on the Coyotes.
This Season
After relocating to Utah, Crouse was named an alternate captain, a role he has held with the Coyotes since the 2022-23 season. He began the season on a line with Josh Doan and Matias Maccelli.
Unlike the season prior, Crouse started quickly, scoring in the first game of the season. He then tallied a goal and an assist in the next game against the New York Islanders.
Six games later, Crouse scored his third goal of the season against the Colorado Avalanche. It would be a whole month later before he recorded his next point, which came as a goal against the Edmonton Oilers. By this time, Crouse was on a new line, still with Maccelli, but with Bjugstad returning to center the line.
CROUSE TIES IT UP! pic.twitter.com/V5dx9IgbL2
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) November 30, 2024
The forward’s struggles continued into the new year. Despite a two-goal outing against the Calgary Flames, Crouse wasn’t even at double-digit numbers in the points category. He eventually hit that number before February, but by the time Utah was about to host the Philadelphia Flyers at Delta Center, he only had 12 points. A far cry from the 121 points he had produced over the prior three seasons.
That’s when head coach André Tourigny decided to make a change. With Guenther returning from injury and the team looking for consistency in the win department, Crouse was healthy scratched. The forward was mature about the situation, and sitting up in the press box must’ve been a wake-up call for him. The very next game, he re-entered the lineup and scored a goal.
People do forget that hockey players don’t like being in long offensive droughts either, especially players like Crouse, who are supposed to be big parts of their team’s top six. It took a toll on the forward, who said that throughout the season, he learned a lot about the mental side of the game.
“I think the mental side of the game was important,” Crouse said. “I think I learned lots from that, being way too hard on myself at times, which can be good and bad.”
Coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break in late February, Crouse scored two goals in six games. While it wasn’t the same production that he had in 2023-24, it was more production than he had had in some time.
Crouse added four more points to his season totals in the final couple of weeks of the season. More production would’ve been nice, but he played a better game overall. He credited the 4 Nations Face-Off for his rejuvenation.
“I think that break that we had, I was able to take the week and do some reflecting,” Crouse said. “At the end of the day, you can’t change the past. That was a great week for me to reflect on what was going wrong, realizing why it was going wrong, and then nipping the button and getting back to playing the way that I know I can play. I think I did a better job of that.”
It also helped that Crouse had some new linemates. He started playing with Doan and McBain, who both also played well on their new line. It wasn’t just about scoring for that line. They played a solid two-way game and were arguably the most physical line on Utah during the latter half of the season.
“It was a lot of fun playing with those guys,” Crouse said. “We didn’t get rewarded on the score sheet as much as we would have liked, but I think we were doing some things for our team that go a little bit farther than points.”
In 81 games, Crouse had 18 points. It was a 24-point decrease from his prior season. His 12 goals placed him ninth on Utah, but it was a notable decrease as well from his 23-goal 2023-24 season.
The Future
It was a very disappointing season for Crouse, who looked like he was finally coming out as a sneaky goal scorer the past three seasons. While there’s a lot more to the game than scoring and producing points, Crouse is supposed to be a decent-sized part of the Mammoth’s offense.
There is some blame that can be shifted to the decrease in Crouse’s role for the Mammoth. He was removed from the top six, and his average playing time decreased by nearly three minutes because of that. He also didn’t play as much on the power play or penalty kill, where he had thrived the prior season in Arizona.
Those are all factors that definitely hurt Crouse’s ability to produce even 20 points. However, there’s no denying that it was a bad season for the forward. Looking at the bottom six, Crouse’s own linemate, McBain, had similar playing time. However, he was able to contribute more goals and way more points.
Of course, you could also point out the fact that outside of McBain and Doan, a lot of the bottom six forwards on the Mammoth had bad years. That’s true, but Crouse is also being paid $4.3 million, which is more than every other player around him on the bottom two lines. The Mammoth expect more out of him, which is why Tourigny eventually had to make the difficult decision to scratch him.
Crouse has two more seasons on his current deal. If he plays the way he did in 2024-25 for the next two seasons, he will get a major pay cut on his next contract. On top of that, the Mammoth could decide to keep moving him down the lineup when guys like Daniil But, Cole Beaudoin, Tij Iginla, and Caleb Desnoyers crack the NHL roster. Other guys like Kailer Yamamoto could also play their way into the lineup.
Another interesting note for next season is that Crouse will once again have a new linemate alongside McBain, if Tourigny keeps those two together. Doan was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, and Bjugstad also left Utah in free agency. It could either benefit Crouse by sparking some new chemistry or it could make Tourigny move him around a bit in the lineup.
At the end of the day, a down season for Crouse hurts everyone involved. Obviously, he wants and yearns to be better, and personally, it helps him keep his roster spot on the team. For the Mammoth, it hurts seeing one of the biggest leaders in your locker room struggle like this. You don’t want him healthy scratched again, either. It’s a bad look for both player and team.
Final Grade
Crouse’s 18 points were his worst totals since the shortened 2020-21 season, where he had 13 points in 51 games. If you’re looking for a full NHL season, you’ll have to go all the way back to his first season in the league in 2016-17, where he produced 12 points. It was a very disappointing season for him and one many weren’t expecting.
Improvement is the goal for both the Mammoth and Crouse next season. The Mammoth want to make the playoffs. While the Canadian forward isn’t the main deciding factor on that, he will play a part in it for sure. The entire bottom six needs to improve, and at his best, Crouse is the best player in that group. He’s also a leader on this team. Leading by example, not just in his two-way play and physicality, but also in his offensive consistency, needs to happen next season.
Overall, Crouse is getting a D for his season. Going a month without producing a single point is unacceptable, and having less than half of the points he produced in the last two seasons is also a huge blow. Crouse is a better player than an 18-point forward. It might not have shown last season, but he is, and his history shows it.
Next season needs to be a bounce-back one for the forward. He simply can’t have another season where he produces under 20 points. The organization and his teammates believe in him. They’ve done so ever since Crouse arrived in 2016 from the Florida Panthers. Can Crouse believe in himself enough to get back to at least being an effective presence in the bottom six? It’s certainly possible for him, as he’ll most likely try his best in the next couple of months to get back to being a reliable contributor for the Mammoth.
