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The Vegas Golden Knights selected William Carrier from the Buffalo Sabres in the June 21 expansion draft. They also received a sixth-round pick in the 2017 draft in order to select Carrier or, more specifically, not to select goaltender Linus Ullmark.
Here’s a look at the former second-round pick.
Scouting Report
The 6-foot-2 Canadian winger from LaSalle, Quebec plays a big, physical game and is willing to take punishment in the service of putting up points. His great hands and hard shot are limited only by his questionable skating and his lack of NHL time.
He averaged nine minutes of ice time night on the Sabres last season, hardly enough for a young prospect. He played just two minutes, 24 seconds on special teams last season.
Yes, that was his full season total.
Numbers, numbers, numbers
Carrier put up five goals and eight points while also accumulating 112 hits in 41 games last year. His possession numbers aren’t bad sitting at 51.53 Corsi For percentage.
He was productive at the junior level, scoring 189 points in 227 QMJHL games. It must be noted the Q tends to be the highest scoring junior league in Canada, so those points aren’t impressive.
His season-high was 70 points, which placed him 30th in the league behind such offensive juggernauts as Yanni Gourde (124 points) and Zach O’Brien (101 points) — a further demonstration of this is Carrier’s transition to the AHL, where he has just 56 points in 127 games.
Verdict
As a bottom-six forward, Carrier is a solid enough prospect for the future of the Golden Knights. He will likely fit in well with players like Alex Tuch and Keegan Kolesar. He might even be able to chip in offensively given the right situation.