Lawson Crouse was a vital part of the recent Arizona Coyotes’ rebuild, scoring 20 or more goals in three straight seasons before the Coyotes left for Utah. This three-season stretch of offensive brilliance from Crouse led him to be named the associate captain for the Utah Hockey Club in their inaugural season in the NHL.
This associate captain designation was unique, as he is the only player in the NHL to hold this title. Utah used this distinction to signify a greater role, rather than the traditional alternate captain title. Unfortunately, despite high expectations, Crouse struggled mightily in his first season in Utah, failing to reach the 20-point mark in their inaugural season.
Related: Utah Mammoth’s 2025-26 Roster Projection 2.0: Post NHL Draft & Free Agency
With the Utah Mammoth having Crouse under contract for two more seasons at a $4.3 million average annual value, let’s evaluate what went wrong for him in the 2024-25 season and discuss whether we should expect a bounce-back season in 2025-26.
Crouse’s 2024-25 Struggles
In 2024-25, Crouse finished with 12 goals and six assists for a total of 18 points in 81 games, his lowest point total since 2020-21. He also finished with fewer points than he had goals in each of the last three seasons for the Coyotes.
Before getting too critical, and to be fair to Crouse, some of this drop in production is due to a decreasing role with the team, with the likes of Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley eating up way more minutes than the 2023-24 season. At the end of Utah’s first season in Salt Lake, Crouse was averaging 13:44 per game, three minutes less than he had averaged the season before.
Lawson Crouse, Utah Hockey Club (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)
While 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).
The Cause Of Crouse’s Decrease in Production
In situations like Crouse’s, to understand what happened and why his offensive production changed so drastically, typically you would examine the player’s shots, scoring chances, and high-danger chance numbers to determine if there was a change in their overall volume of scoring opportunities. With a point differential as wide as his, combined with a drop in ice time, it typically points to a significant decline in quality scoring chances.
However, interestingly enough, Crouse’s volume of chances per 60 minutes stayed relatively stable relative to his previous three seasons with the Coyotes. He averaged more high-danger chances per 60 minutes last season than he did in the 2022-23 season, as well as averaging more scoring chances per 60 than he did in the 2021-22 season and the 2022-23 season, where he scored 20 and 24 goals, respectively.
Despite the volume of chances remaining relatively similar, there was a massive difference in Crouse’s expected goal production. In 2024-25, he averaged 0.65 expected goals per 60 minutes, the lowest he has averaged since his second season in the NHL (2017-18). Following that season and before this last season, the lowest expected goals per 60 minutes that Crouse averaged was 0.73.
While this may seem like a slight difference, throughout an 82-game schedule, it makes a significant impact. Last season, Crouse had 12.03 expected goals, averaging out to 0.14 per game. The season before, he averaged 0.24 expected goals per game, which adds up to 20.24 expected goals.
The number of goals Crouse was expected to score dropped drastically, which is odd considering the two are typically correlated in some form. However, in this case, the only explanation I can come up with for his lack of production was possibly a lack of confidence.
If you dive deeper into Crouse’s microstats, that’s where you will find a significant drop-off in his play with the puck. While he has never been an excellent puck handler or playmaker, his play with the puck has graded around the league average or just slightly below in the three seasons he scored 20 goals or more. Last season, he ranked well below the league average in controlled entries percentage, entries with chances per 60, retrievals leading to exits per 60 and exits with possession per 60 (All Three Zones, Player Cards, July 23, 2025).
Can Crouse Bounce Back in 2025-26?
The combination of these stats, which are significantly worse than the NHL’s average and Crouse’s average since the 2020-21 season (when All Three Zones started tracking this data), indicates a lack of comfort with the puck last season. In the defensive zone, he was trying to get it on and off his stick as often as possible, frequently leading to defensive zone clears that gave the puck right back to the opposition. On the offensive side, he stopped using his size to drive the puck to the net and opted to dump it in far too often.
In 2025-26, the Mammoth need a more aggressive Crouse. They need him to get back to pushing the pace and making better decisions with the puck. While the microstats discussed did not change the volume of chances he was getting per 60 minutes, it certainly limited the amount of sustained offensive zone time and rush offense the Mammoth could generate with him on the ice.
All this likely played a significant factor in Crouse’s slow start, as he had four points in 35 games, following Utah’s two-game homestand to start the season, after recording three points in the first two games of the season.
Whether Crouse lost some confidence over this stretch and throughout the rest of the season, or it was just a tough season for him, it can only be described as an outlier. With a diminishing role with the Mammoth, it is unlikely we will see him get back to the 20-goal mark. However, with a fresh slate coming up in 2025-26, and no significant drop in his scoring chance production, it is reasonable to expect a much better season offensively.
