3 former Sabres who Kevyn Adams should not bring back in 2024-25

William Carrier, F

You may not remember William Carrier, as he played in just 41 contests for the Buffalo Sabres during the 2016-17 season. During that time, he scored five goals and eight points while logging 112 hits and an average total ice time of nine minutes. 

He’s since recorded between the single digits and 12:35 of average total ice time for the Vegas Golden Knights, where he’s been a staple since the 2017-18 season. Carrier is a great role player and routinely brought a physical edge, at times landing over 200 body checks per season. 

The Sabres need a player like Carrier, but the issue is similar to the reason I’m not keen on another pending free agent from Vegas, Jonathan Marchessault. We know how good Marchessault is as a Knight, and we also know how solid yet unspectacular he was, for the most part, elsewhere. 

The same goes with Carrier, who played a sound role during his limited appearances with the Sabres in 2016-17. While he hasn’t seen a ton of ice time at any point, Carrier is someone who has thrived for most of his career with one team in the same role, so could he go elsewhere and play a strong, defense-first role as a winger?

Buffalo would be better off bringing back restricted free agent Peyton Krebs and unrestricted free agent Zemgus Girgensons and dropping someone like Jordan Greenway to the fourth line before rolling with Carrier.