Starting to Grow: Why Angus Crookshank Remains a Prospect to Keep an Eye On

After missing the entire 2021-22 season, Crookshank bounced back to lead all Belleville Senators forwards in goals and games played.

When a player gets selected out of the BCHL in the 5th round of the NHL Draft and stands 5’10” and 185 pounds, it would be easy to not take him that seriously as a prospect.

But Angus Crookshank has been proving people wrong for a long time.

Right from his first prospect camp, it was clear Crookshank had great pace in his game and a tenacious side to him that was hard not to notice. His diminutive frame is equally hard not to notice. But when you look at the consistent numbers he's put up at every level he's played, this clearly doesn’t deter him.

His three seasons at the University of New Hampshire were all the Senators needed to see. Thanks to the early end of his 2020-21 season in New Hampshire, the North Vancouver native was able to play in 19 games for Belleville that season, given the late start to their campaign. He produced at nearly a point-per-game pace (both at school and in Belleville) and clearly was setting himself up for a big full season in 2021-22.

Those plans were derailed as Crookshank suffered an ACL tear in training camp, thus ending his season before it began.

Crookshank showed his resilience in 2022-23 by returning to the lineup and delivering the kind of AHL season he had hoped for a year earlier. He finished fourth in team scoring with 47 points in 71 games, including a team-leading 26 goals. Most encouraging was that he played in 71 of 72 games, showing he had fully recovered from injury.

By virtue of the season he lost to injury, he remains under contract for one more season at which point he'll be an RFA.

“(Crookshank) knew that he needed to work on his D-zone coverage and work on his 200-foot game," B-Sens head coach David Bell told TheAHL.com. "He works every day with video. Now you’re starting to see this guy grow. I can put him out in the last minute or I can put him out with the lead, and he’s going to be responsible.

Crookshank sounds like he's all in.

“Being an offensive guy, I’ve had to learn how to really round out my 200-foot game and that was a struggle for me to start this season,” Crookshank said. “But since Christmas or so, it was a lot better, and I think I’ve started becoming a more complete player because of that."

Maybe Crookshank can continue to deliver offensive numbers as Egor Sokolov has done. Crookshank has the speed that would make Sokolov a bona fide power winger in the league and Sokolov has the frame that would make Crookshank the same.

Former Senator Shaun Van Allen led the AHL in scoring in 1991-92 and realized that if he wanted a career in the NHL that offensive production wasn’t likely to be his primary calling card. He had to create a niche for himself and 794 NHL regular season games later, he did.

For now, in his final entry level season, it should become apparent if Crookshank has an elite level of offense he can bring to the table. Short of that, his plus/minus, Corsi Against and penalty killing will likely become equally important to him taking the next step in his career.

Don’t sleep on Angus Crookshank. This will be a telling season in his development.