Winger had seven goals last season after scoring a career-high 28 in 2023
The fate of long-time Buffalo Sabres Jeff Skinner and Zemgus Girgensons remained shrouded in mystery until the last few days, as the former 40-goal scorer was bought out of the final three years of his contract and signed with the Edmonton Oilers, and the longest-tenured member of the Buffalo Sabres opted for a three-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Such was not the case with winger Victor Olofsson, who endured a difficult final year with the Sabres last season and made it clear after the season that he would be headed elsewhere.
“I didn’t have a fun season,” Olofsson said to Expressen in April. “It was a very big disappointment. I didn't get the role I previously had at all and considering how I performed, it was a bit frustrating.”
On Tuesday, the 28-year-old winger signed a one-year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights, joining former teammate Jack Eichel in Sin City.
Olofsson scored a career-high 28 goals in 2022-23 but was used sparingly by Don Granato in the last few weeks with the Sabres battling for an Eastern Conference wildcard spot. The winger was widely speculated to be heading elsewhere last summer, but those plans changed with the off-season training injury to winger Jack Quinn.
The native of Ornskoldvsik, Sweden was a seventh-round pick of the Sabres in 2014 (the same draft as Eichel) and came to North America in 2018 after two strong seasons in the SHL. Olofsson scored 30 goals in Rochester in 2018-19 and joined the Sabres full-time in 2019-20, posting the first of three 20+ goal seasons.
Last season, playing mostly fourth-line duty (11:34 per game), Olofsson scored only seven goals in 51 games. In Vegas, there may be an opportunity to make an impact with the Stanley Cup contender, who lost winger Jonathan Marchessault in free agency.
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