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Lawson Crouse evaluates his game for Utah Hockey Club

The associate captain was a healthy scratch for Utah Hockey Club this week.

Columbus, Ohio • When Lawson Crouse wakes up from a nap, he meditates.

The Utah Hockey Club forward goes through his breathing techniques and visualizes the kind of player he wants to be. A lot of it is positive thinking, Crouse said, and reciting mantras that soon turn into held beliefs.

That’s been a little more difficult of late.

“When you go through streaks like this, that’s the hardest part, trying to manufacture that feeling,” Crouse said. “Hockey is a very mental game and I’m constantly working on the mental side of it. Just trying to stay positive with myself as much as I can.”

Crouse, who is an associate captain for Utah, was a healthy scratch Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. He re-entered the lineup in Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets and scored his first goal since Jan. 23 to tie the game in the second period.

The 27-year-old was the first to agree with head coach André Tourigny’s decision when he was told he was being held out earlier in the week. It’s not something Crouse wanted, obviously, but he understood why.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club left wing Lawson Crouse (67) brings the puck down the ice during the third period of the game at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024.

“I hold myself to a higher level and standard. Ultimately they made the decision and that is the consequence for my actions,” Crouse said. “I knew that right away. I told Bear (Tourigny) that right away. Obviously, it’s unfortunate but I’ve got to play better. It’s on me.”

It has been a slower season in terms of production than what the team expects of Crouse and he expects of himself. The winger has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) through 53 games and one point in the last 14 games for Utah.

Comparatively, Crouse finished with 42 points (23 goals, 19 assists) through 81 games last season and has scored 20-plus goals in the last three years.

He is also the third highest-paid forward on Utah’s roster, earning $4.3 million a year after signing a five-year, $21.5 million contract with the organization — formerly the Arizona Coyotes — in August 2022. He will be an unrestricted free agent ahead of the 2027-28 season but has some legitimate term left on the deal.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club forward Lawson Crouse (67) celebrates a goal as Utah Hockey Club hosts the Los Angeles Kings, NHL pre-season hockey in Salt Lake City on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.

Crouse knows he has to elevate his play.

Before he can jump-start his scoring touch, though, Crouse is focused on doing the little things right too. He believes it will lead him to find the back of the net like his team needs.

“Just power. Using my speed, using my size, using my physicality. Winning battles. Just all of that stuff. Being hard on pucks. And then getting shots,” Crouse said. “Getting to the dirty areas and creating opportunities. That’s my game and in the past years, that’s how I’ve scored a lot of goals. That’s what I have to get back to.”

Scratching a member of the leadership group who has been a big part of the team for the better part of eight years could be hard for a coach to do. But it’s a lesson on accountability to the Utah room that everyone — no matter their standing — needs to pull their weight for the team to succeed.

“I think at the end of the day, there’s always the player and the person. You can demand more from the player, but it’s important to respect the person as well,” Tourigny said. “The person is not in question. Their character is not in question — zero. It’s performance. At the end of the day, we’re in a business and the performance has to be there. There’s a certain level of expectation and they have to meet that. But it’s nothing personal.”

Utah Hockey Club left wing Lawson Crouse (67) and goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) hug after a win over the Minnesota Wild of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

When scratched on Tuesday, Crouse took the chance to watch the game from a different perspective, figuratively and literally, while in the stands at Delta Center. He embraced the learning lesson and honed in on areas of the game he felt he could improve.

“It’s crazy when you watch up there — it looks like there’s so much time and when you get on the ice it feels like there’s a guy all over you,” Crouse said. “I was just focusing on things like areas that I’m continuously in on the ice that I could maybe have an extra second to do this or that.”

Crouse skated on the third line with Jack McBain and Josh Doan on Thursday in Columbus and the trio produced well.

With Crouse back in the lineup, Matias Maccelli was a healthy scratch for the second time this season. The forward has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 51 games and has been working on his defensive play but was the odd one out as others have outperformed him on a nightly basis.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Hockey Club left wing Matias Maccelli (63) during an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.

“I think at this point it’s internal competition. That’s the beauty of having more depth up front,” Tourigny said. “In every role there’s competition right now and we can go either way. I think it’s good in a team where you have accountability, depth, internal competition.”

The internal competition Tourigny talks about has pushed Crouse to dig deeper but not be too hard on himself. It’s no help to dwell on the negatives. Instead, Crouse skates with the belief that things will start to click for him consistently. And when they do, Utah Hockey Club will be a better team.

“When you’re playing your best hockey you’re not thinking, you’re just playing confident and everything is just coming natural. Obviously, when you go through stretches, you’re playing a little bit more tense. Mentally you have to put yourself in a situation to play free,” Crouse said. “I’m going to get going, I know I can. I believe in it. Just have to do it.”