Arizona Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse day-to-day with upper-body injury

Arizona Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse will miss Thursday’s game against the Washington Capitals with an upper-body injury, the club announced.

Crouse, 25, leads the Coyotes with 16 goals and ranks third on the team with 27 points in 43 games this year. He’s in the first season of the five-year, $4.3 million AAV contract he signed with the Coyotes in August 2022.

The Coyotes snapped a nine-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 4–3 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. Crouse had a career-high three assists in that contest.

The Florida Panthers originally selected Crouse in the first round (No. 11 overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft. The 6’4″, 215-pound winger lasted just one season in the Panthers organization before being traded to the Coyotes in August 2016.

Crouse reached the 20-goal plateau with the Coyotes for the first time in 2021–22 and is on pace to surpass that mark this season. Clayton Keller and Shayne Gostisbehere are the only Coyotes players with more points.

Through 389 career NHL games (all with Arizona), Crouse has amassed 72 goals and 137 points. He added two goals in nine games with the Coyotes during their brief appearance in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Coyotes currently rank 29th in the NHL with a 14–25–5 record through 44 games this season. After selecting Logan Cooley, Conor Geekie, and Maveric Lamoureux in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft, the Coyotes’ main target this year is undoubtedly 17-year-old phenom Connor Bedard.

The Capitals and Coyotes will go head-to-head against each other at Mullett Arena for the only time this season at 7:00 p.m. MT on Thursday evening. The two teams previous met at Capital One Arena in D.C. back on Nov. 5, with Nick Ritchie scoring the game-winning goal in a 3–2 Coyotes win.