Vegas Golden Knights: Time to talk about William Carrier

Can we start to have a real discussion about the potential of Vegas Golden Knights forward William Carrier please?

Okay, so this seems a strange rabbit hole to dive down given that Carrier has been a bottom line grinder for the large chunk of his career with the Vegas Golden Knights.

However, just hear me out because I promise this will make sense.

Okay, let’s dive in.

As already mentioned, Carrier plays a very specific and important role for the Golden Knights in that he’s a physical enforcer who brings a bucketload of grit, snarl and toughness to the bottom line.

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Along with Ryan Reaves, Carrier dishes out physical punishment against the opposition and can be relied upon to lay on punishing hit after punishing hit.

The stats back that up. Carrier doled out a staggering 277 hits in 2018-19, while he’s already racked up 131 hits this season.

He has averaged 9:24 minutes of average total ice time per game in three years with the Golden Knights, and the forward does exactly what it says on the tin.

However, is that still true now?

Because, after what we have all witnessed in the last two games in particular, I think it is appropriate to start having a conversation about Carrier’s potential.

I mean, is he wasted on the fourth line?

Albeit a small sample size, Carrier has taken on a new lease of life in his last two outings, flourishing while playing on a third line with Paul Stastny and Cody Glass.

He’s unlocked what looks to be a treasure chest of skill and creativity, while the 25-year-old also boasts elite vision when the puck is on his stick.

Carrier showed off his silky mitts against both the Philadelphia Flyers and the St. Louis Blues, regularly unlocking the defense with a sublime dish to his teammates.

Take Saturday for example. During the first period against St. Louis, Carrier burned veteran defenseman Jay Bouwmeester for pace before latching onto a loose puck, circling the zone and then sending a beautiful, inch-perfect feed over to Nicholas Roy that led to a high-danger scoring chance.

That wasn’t the only highlight-reel play from Carrier against the Blues, either. With Vegas chasing the game in the second period, Carrier took the puck along the boards before weaving his way through the offensive zone and dishing a stellar no-look pass to Paul Stastny who did the rest.

Just study that play from beginning to end.

From the moment he received the puck, Carrier had a man on him but he used his sturdy frame to hold off the player before using his speed to make a sharp turn to escape from the pocket.

He then showed off his quick hands to waltz through the circle before dishing a sublime no-look pass to Stastny at the back door, and it was arguably one of the best plays of the game.

Both plays highlighted a different aspect of Carrier’s game that is often left lurking in the shadows due to his role on the fourth line, and that is a real detriment.

Because, for a team that has severely lacked secondary scoring all year long, it seems foolish to keep a player of Carrier’s clear capabilities on the fourth line.

Again, we are only going on a small sample size in terms of his new-found creative streak, but Carrier was a productive scorer in his junior days and it is clear that he’s got all the attributes required to truly flourish in a much bigger role.

Plus, with Nicolas Roy having equipped himself well on the fourth line, it seems to make perfect sense to keep Carrier on the third line and allow him to morph into a potent weapon for this team.

After all, the Vegas Golden Knights need someone to drive that third line and William Carrier is showing that he’s got the potential to be that man.

Combine his size and speed with his blood-and-thunder approach to the game along with his natural skill and creative vision, then the Golden Knights may well have quite the unpolished gem on their hands.

So, it is about time we start looking at William Carrier in a different light and consider the possibility that he could be much more than a fourth line grinder.