The Utah Mammoth have $6.6 million in projected cap space and there still is a very intriguing free agent forward on the open market that they could target.
Victor Olofsson could be a very sneaky signing for the Mammoth, who have emphasized adding good quality depth players this summer. Olofsson, 29, is coming off a season where he scored 25 goals and 14 assists for 39 points in 56 games.
During his early seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, he was fairly productive. In his second season in the league (2019-20), he had 42 points in 54 games. His career high was in 2021-22 when he scored 49 points in 72 games. Unfortunately, he has struggled to be a regular in any lineup that he has played in. Because he is an offensive-minded forward, he tends to fall out of favour with his coaches.
If Utah can manage to sign him for under $2 million, he would be a great addition to the middle middle-six in their lineup. He is a player that can score at least 20 goals, if not more, with consistent ice time, which can be useful for a team trying to push for the playoffs like Utah is.
Currently, Utah has 12 forwards already signed to NHL-level contracts, which makes it tough to compete for spots. Especially since they already have a very deep prospect pool, and some of them could be pushing for a spot in the lineup.
Ultimately though, if Utah has a strong desire to make the playoffs, they need more goal scoring. Olofsson adds that to any lineup in the NHL, he just needs the chance to show it.
