In 2027, the Utah Mammoth will have a very interesting player who is set to become an unrestricted free agent. Lawson Crouse, 29, has become a reliable goal scorer with the Mammoth, and they may want to do what they can to retain their star.
At the least, the winger offers depth and the ability to add 20+ goals. Will Utah want to re-sign him, though, with other potential free agents offering Utah more?
Will Utah re-sign Crouse, or will they look somewhere else?
In 2026, the UFA class was supposed to be quite good. However, it ended up being quite the opposite, with multiple players receiving extensions. Alex Tuch ended up being potentially the best free agent signed, which would have surprised people in 2025 who expected 2026 to be a huge free agency.
In 2027, as it stands now, four names will hit the free-agent market that could intrigue all teams, including Utah. Jason Robertson, Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, and Nikita Kucherov are all set to become free agents. The first three, Robertson, Makar, and Hughes, are all likely to be extended by their respective teams thanks to their age. There's also no doubt that the Tampa Bay Lightning will try to extend Kucherov, but there's more standing in their way.
If Utah wanted to go after a player of this caliber, they might have to let a guy like Crouse walk. In the 2025-26 season, Crouse scored 24 goals and added 20 assists. Crouse has scored at least 20 goals in four of the last five seasons. He bounced back after a disappointing 2024-25 season, which saw him score only 12 goals and add six assists. There's not much of a chance that Crouse is going to become a bigger star in the future, but Utah may like to keep Crouse in Salt Lake anyway.
The question is: Does Utah want to build its youth and talent, or does it want to add a free agent of that caliber? This past offseason, Utah clearly showed that it wants to add veterans to its young team. The Mammoth were rumored to be going after players like Robertson, Dylan Larkin, and even Kirill Marchenko. Instead, the team decided to trade for Vincent Trocheck, suggesting they may be focusing on building their young talent rather than signing or trading for superstars. That might be good news for Crouse, if he seeks to stay in Utah.
Add us as a preferred source on Google