Victor Olofsson’s path has looped him right back to where he wanted to be.
After a season that sent him from Colorado to Calgary and then into free agency, the former Avalanche forward is back with the Vegas Golden Knights, the team he first left after the 2024-25 season. He said the fit came together fast.
“I had a great time here last time around,” Olofsson told Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Danny Webster. “When the opportunity came, it felt like an easy choice.
It was nice and quick. Happy to be back.”
Olofsson’s year away from Vegas was anything but settled. He played 60 games for the Avalanche, scored 11 goals and added 14 assists for 25 points, and notched the first hat trick of his NHL career on Oct.
- During the Olympic break, his wife, Taylor, gave birth to the couple’s second child.
A little more than a week later, he was traded to Calgary in the deal that sent Nazem Kadri back to Colorado.
His stay with the Flames was brief. Olofsson finished with two goals and four assists in 18 games before free agency opened the door for a return to familiar ground. Vegas signed him to a one-year contract on July 1, bringing him back to the organization where he first got a taste of playoff hockey.
The first time around in Vegas started with a burst. Olofsson scored three goals in his first four games before a lower-body injury in October knocked him out for nearly two months. He remembers having chances even after that rough stretch, and he believes this run could look different.
“I was a little bit in and out there the last time I was here,” Olofsson said. “I had a lot of good looks and chances, too, so we’ll see what happens this year. I’m ready for whatever and I’m excited.”
The Golden Knights’ draw for Olofsson isn’t hard to understand. He’s already seen a room built around winning, and he made clear that the Cup chase still drives him.
“The guys in the room, a lot of guys have won it one time and came close last year, too,” Olofsson said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
“That’s why I wanted to come back, too, was to win the Cup,” Olofsson said. “It’s always a team that’s in contention every year.”
Olofsson entered the league as a 181st overall pick by Buffalo in the 2014 NHL Draft. He spent six seasons with the Sabres, including a 28-goal season in 2022-23, before moving on to Vegas, then Colorado, then Calgary, and now back to the Golden Knights again.
There’s even a fresh set of wheels waiting for him in Las Vegas. Cadillac of Las Vegas recently posted a photo of Olofsson picking up a new Cadillac Escalade, another sign that his return to the city is fully underway.
For Olofsson, the move back to Vegas gives him something he’s been chasing all along: a stable spot with a team that expects to contend.
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By the time Colorado headed into the third period down 2-0, the score was only part of the concern. The game had already turned choppy and physical, with penalties interrupting the rhythm, and the Avalanche needed a cleaner, calmer final frame just to give themselves a chance at a comeback. For a team that usually wants to dictate pace, the problem was less about chasing goals than finding a way to stop creating new ones against itself. [Read more 🡒]
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Avalanche Preseason Loss Put A Few Early Roster Battles In Focus
The Avalanches preseason meeting with the Jets at Canada Life Center offered an early look at a roster that is still taking shape, even in a 3-1 loss. Colorado dressed only a limited number of players who are likely to be in the opening-night mix, which meant the game was as much about sorting out depth and roles as it was about the final score.
Winnipeg got goals from Gabriel Vilardi, Cole Perfetti and Dylan DeMelo, while Colorados offense came from Georgii Merkulov, with Brett Kulak and Fabian Lysell setting him up. For a team still weighing a few early roster battles, nights like this tend to matter less for the result than for the way individual players handle bigger minutes and a less settled lineup. [Read more 🡒]