It’s fair to say Victor Olofsson is on fire. Vegas Vic scored a goal in all three games on the difficult road trip and after a scoring correction was credited with a second one last night in Minnesota.
The four goals in his last three games bring his total to seven in 11 games on the season and he’s quickly emerged as one of VGK’s most dangerous weapons. Most of his damage (4 of the 7 goals), has come on the power play where he has re-assumed the role as the “one-timer option” on the right side.
The most important of his recent goals came on the power play in Winnipeg when Mark Stone fired a pass across the goal mouth allowing Olofsson to rip one into an empty cage. He’s quickly becoming used to receiving incredible passes from Stone.
Honestly, not surprised because he’s been hitting me with a lot of good passes this season. I’m always ready there and that was just a great pass. -Victor Olofsson
His coach has been focused on other parts of his game, and Olofsson has also impressed there.
What I’ve learned is he’s a more conscientious player than I probably would have given him credit for in terms of board work and stick details. That means you can use him in different situations, it’s not just hiding him against certain lines or finding spots for him against other teams weaker defensive pairs. You don’t have to think about that. -Bruce Cassidy
Cassidy has begun to show more trust in the 29-year-old Swede. In the home game against the Oilers, with the ability to dictate the matchups, Olofsson played nearly eight minutes of even-strength time against Leon Draisaitl.
Olofsson’s analytics have been strong since his return as well. He’s positive in almost every category and has seen his offensive zone start percentage drop to 54.9%, less than Mark Stone, Tomas Hertl, and Brett Howden.
Simply put, he’s been impressive in just about every way. Cassidy now wants to see it continue for longer stretches.
He’s probably fresher than most of the players out there because he missed time. That’s the advantage of missing time. He’s got a little more zip than some of the other guys on both sides. But it’s not just the goal scoring, there’s lots more to his game than that. -Cassidy
The opportunity will be there for Olofsson as long as he continues to take advantage of it. His success on the power play has been massive for VGK to this point and as lines are shuffled he’s likely to keep being called upon to play alongside the likes of Stone, Eichel, and/or William Karlsson.
The sample remains quite small, just 11 games in a Golden Knights uniform, but early returns couldn’t be much better.
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