When they killed Dale off before reaching the prison, they kept some of his plot points and did it to different people. Herschel's leg-bite and subsequent amputation were suffered by Dale in the comics, as was the death of Bob. In the comics, it was Dale who concealed a bite, slipped away from Gabriel's church, got kidnapped by cannibals, and then gloated that he was tainted once he realized they had cut off his leg and eaten it. Meanwhile, they gave Tyrese's death scene to Herschel, with the governor executing him outside the prison. Tyrese's Crowning Moment of Awesome was when he got trapped while clearing out the prison, and had to be abandoned in a room full of zombies that were grappling with him, only to go back the next day expecting to find his corpse, and discovering he had survived and hammer-killed all the zombies. But since he showed up after they had settled into the prison on the show, they placed his hammer-survival scene in the next season, in different circumstances. The scene in the premier this season, where Eugene overhears some of the Alexandrian's plotting to take back the town, gets caught by them, only to have Rick show up and sneer at the Alexandrians' having the temerity to assume they could take it back from him and his crew, was Glen in the comics. They could have Negan beat up a totally different character. Maybe Eugene, or maybe some other genial character with whom the audience easily identifies and would have much the same effect on seeing die that way. I can't think of who that might be right at the current time, but maybe if they develop an Alexandrian some more, or start having a prior character develop for the better, to make the end all the worse. Tara or maybe Jessie's older son, or even Carol. They've kept her going a lot longer than the comics did, especially since Sophia died so fast, whereas in the books, AFAIK she is now a teen being raised by Maggie. Andrea died pretty fast, while in the books, she's currently Rick's love interest, after having been with Dale previously.

Basically, there are all kinds of ways they can go with the characters, and still hit those notes, or skip a particular character's fate if they want to keep a popular one around. Hell, Daryl might be a fan favorite, but they really seem to be short of things for him to do at this point.