Daniel Carr’s career with the Vegas Golden Knights ended before it ever really got a chance to begin.
Daniel Carr: Ungraded
We roll on with our 2018-19 Report Cards as we continue to assess every player who laced up their skates for the Vegas Golden Knights last year. Today is the turn of Daniel Carr who flourished in the AHL and will now get a chance to shine in the NHL, but it won’t be with the Vegas Golden Knights…
His Season
Signing a one-year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights prior to the start of 2018-19, Daniel Carr was looking for the stage to showcase his considerable talents.
After tallying 157 points (78 goals, 79 assists) in 160 games during his collegiate career for Union College, Carr signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens in 2015-16 and made a rapid start to life in the NHL, scoring just two minutes and 44 seconds into his big league debut.
He finished the year with six goals and three assists for nine points in 23 games, ending his career with the Canadiens with 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists) in 94 NHL regular season games.
Forwarding back to now and Carr certainly had a lot to prove heading into the 2018-19 season after seeing his career disrupted by a slew of injuries, including a concussion.
Spending the majority of the year with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL, the left-shot proved that he’s probably a cut above that level after lighting it up for the Wolves.
He scored four goals in just one game at Milwaukee on Nov, 7 and finished the year with 30 goals and 41 assists for 71 points in 52 regular season games.
Carr’s exploits didn’t go unnoticed as he was crowned the Most Valuable Player in the AHL, in addition to being named to the AHL First All-Star Team.
There was one blemish on the copybook, however, after a nasty head injury sustained on March, 5, brought Carr’s season to a premature end and forced him to miss the first round of the playoffs.
However, the 27-year-old bounced back with a vengeance and tallied five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 15 postseason games as the Wolves made it all the way to the Calder Cup Finals.
In terms of his year with the Vegas Golden Knights, Carr featured in six contests and put up one point, which came courtesy of a goal in the 8-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov, 27.
Carr had a plus/minus rating of -1 during his stint with the Knights and, in truth, his body of work with the franchise in the NHL could have been a lot bigger were it not for Vegas’ abundance of depth.
An unrestricted free agent heading into this offseason, Carr signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Nashville Predators who are bang in the middle of their Stanley Cup window.
Carr, who totalled 161 points in 191 career AHL games, brings a bucket load of grit and tenacity to the table and he’ll be hoping to resurrect his NHL career with the Predators.