There was a time when playing the Panthers in Sunrise, Florida flipped a switch inside Lawson Crouse, shifting him into chip-on-my-shoulder mode. It was in that very building that the Panthers selected Crouse 11th overall at the 2015 NHL Draft, only to ship him to the Arizona Coyotes before he ever played a game.
"The first couple years when I knew I was going there it was marked on my calendar," Crouse said, adopting his tough-guy voice. "I was like, 'I want to prove these guys wrong for trading me before I even played for them.'"
A decade of time, experience and wisdom have softened Crouse's stance.
"You're so far down the line now where it's more about the memories of having my whole family there that day where it all began," the Utah Hockey Club power forward said. "They drafted me and gave me a chance to be in the NHL so it's cool to go back there and be in that rink, but that's way behind me now."
Crouse, 27, has taken the same approach to the Pre-4 Nations Face-Off portion of his 2024-25 season.
Coming off three straight seasons of 20 or more goals in Arizona, Crouse knew he was facing an adjustment in his first season in Utah. Not only were he and his wife, Claire, expecting their first child (Isabel), Crouse knew that he was going to be cast in a different role this season. Part of the rebuilding process means watching young players seize opportunity — a process that Utah was hoping would happen with players such as Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther because it would mean that they were living up to their potential and the team was, in turn, improving.
Crouse knew it was coming, but there was no playbook for how to handle playing nearly three minutes less than he had the season before, or for not being a major part of the penalty-killing unit which he had used to stay in the flow of the games, or for not being as a big a part of the power play where he recorded seven of his 23 goals last season.
"How many conversations have you had with your kids where you told them what was happening, but it was not happening right now so they didn't see or understand the gravity of the situation until they got into the situation?" Utah coach André Tourigny said. "We had those conversations with a lot of players and they were all receptive to it. They didn't look at me like I had two heads. They understood, and they still understand.
"But you still have to go through it. You still need to live through it. You're used to having no questions to ask. When certain situations happen, you just jump over the boards. Now there's multiple players who applied for that same job. There's more consideration. The more depth you have in your team, the more it affects all those things."
Crouse tried to approach the season the same way he had approached his three previous seasons. He knew what made him successful and he had plenty of history to prove that could be a very productive NHL player. But as the season progressed, the shots weren't going in and the points weren't coming. When the 4 Nations Face-Off break arrived 56 games into the season, Crouse had eight goals and 12 points. Those 67 goals and 121 points he had recorded over the past three seasons seemed like a distant memory.
"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 said. "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."
Tourigny stuck with Crouse through January because he had a history with the player, he knew the player well, there parts of his game that were still effective, and he knew just how much leadership Crouse brought to the team as the league's only "associate captain;" a special designation Utah awarded him to signify a greater role and stature than the traditional alternate captain.
But on Feb. 4, Tourigny decided that Crouse needed a reset. He was a healthy scratch against the Flyers.
"I think he knew why," Tourigny said. "His reaction and his comments said so. They were the best. He said, 'Yeah, I know where I made my bed, and I will sleep where I made my bed, and I'm okay with it.' He reacted like a true leader, which has never been a doubt. I think he showed his colors there, and he showed how much he cares for the team."
That last portion of Tourigny's quote may be Crouse's greatest strength. At the same time, it may be his greatest detriment. Ask any of his teammates, coaches or the greater hockey operations staff and they will tell you that Crouse cares so much.
"It's funny you say that because that's part of the reason I was still in my own head when I wasn't producing," he said. "I was feeling like I was not pulling my weight and I was letting the team down. I'm super hard on myself. Sometimes that can eat at you, right? That's never good. You need to be able to find a balance."
Crouse has done that since the break. While the points may not be coming, there is no denying the impact that he, Jack McBain and Josh Doan have had as a line. If you need further proof, take a look at the shot attempts for and against when they are on the ice, or the expected goals for and against. Thursday's hiccup in Tampa notwithstanding, the line has been a dominant, physical, offensive-zone force for more than a month.
"We all care and we all play the right way," Crouse said. "We want to do the right things, and we want to keep it simple. Obviously, we're a big line together. We have speed, we all have size and we all play physical so we try and be a really tough line to play against.
"We want to score more, too. We get so many chances and they just don't go in, but the best thing about our line is that we haven't stopped doing what we do. Whether they go in or not, we're coming over the boards and we're trying to do the exact same thing."
Tourigny said Crouse has been more physically engaged since the break and "way more intense," which has helped his overall game.
"Mentally, you're in the game when you're in those situations," Crouse said. "Bainer feeds off it as well. We're big guys, we need to go to the net and sometimes, when you go to the net, some of the D aren't going to like it and they're going to give you a shove. It's just part of the game."
While Cooley and Guenther are going to continue to play larger roles on this team in the future, Tourigny said that Crouse will play more PK and power play the rest of the season. Whether the points come or not, the player he saw the past three seasons is back.
"I think he did a really good job to adjust his role and become a really important part of our team," Tourigny said. "He has had a hell of a second half. Even if it has not always translated by the number of points, it has translated by the impact he has in the game. He is having a tremendous impact right now."
Crouse will wait until the end of the season to fully evaluate his first year in Utah, but he has taken some lessons from this challenging season.
"Don't be so hard on yourself and just believe in yourself would be the two biggest ones, and then just know who you are as a player," he said. "Don't get away from it."
The first of those three lessons may be the hardest for Crouse to heed.
"I'm getting better," he said, laughing. "I'm getting better."
