There are a lot of teams loading up this 2024 NHL free agency period, and the Vegas Golden Knights are no exception. Today they announced that they have signed Victor Olofsson to a one-year contract, worth $1.1 million. Olofsson is a great depth pickup by the Golden Knights, who are trying to juggle their lineup with Jonathan Marchessault leaving to free agency.
The #VegasBorn signed 28 y/o UFA F Victor Olofsson to 1 year $1.075M Deal
15P in 51 GP
Rep'd by Claude Lemieux @4sportshockey https://t.co/R3zCgAb296
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 2, 2024
Victor Olofsson Signs a One-Year Contract With the Vegas Golden Knights
For a seventh-round pick, the Buffalo Sabres had gotten decent value from Olofsson. After developing in the top-Swedish league, including a 27-goal season with Frolunda, Olofsson made his way to North America. In 2018-19, as a 23-year-old, he was nearly a point-per-game player with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. It was good enough to earn him a full-time spot on the Sabres roster in 2019-20. Moreover, since that time he has become a three-time 20-goal scorer in the NHL, including a career-high 28 goals in 2022-23. In total, he has played 314 career NHL games, with 90 goals and 92 assists for 182 points. Olofsson uses his excellent shot to be a valuable asset.
What Will Olofsson Bring to the Golden Knights
Bringing Victor Olofsson in on a one-year contract is just another great hockey move by Vegas General Manager Kelly McCrimmon. Being accountable and adding reliable depth is a very crucial part of success at the NHL level. That is exactly what Olofsson provides. Losing someone like Marchessault will hurt the Golden Knights top-end, but then again, they did just bring in Tomas Hertl at this year’s trade deadline. As a result, sometimes the economics don’t work out to keep star players. They also moved on from goaltender Logan Thompson. But again, they had a competent starter in Adin Hill. They have also added Ilya Samsonov as a reliable backup. However, the issue for Vegas remains, according to puckpedia, they are currently over $3.5 million over the salary cap threshold. Therefore, McCrimmon will need to continue to move his chess pieces around the board to keep the Golden Knights a playoff end game player.
Main photo: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
