Confirmed with Link: Olofsson to Montreal

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Mookie Blaylock

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Apr 16, 2014
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Pronman's write up from Athletic.

Bitten is an explosive skater who brings a lot of energy and speed to every shift. His offense is never going to be a big selling point, but he has some hands and can make some plays. He likely projects out as a checker given his size and lack of dynamic abilities, but he can be a good penalty killer as a pro who is decent at evens.
 

gphr513

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Jan 14, 2014
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It's too bad that Olofsson's career was derailed by injuries. Hope he does well in Montreal. Did Reilly ever catch on there?
 

417

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Feb 20, 2003
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It's too bad that Olofsson's career was derailed by injuries. Hope he does well in Montreal. Did Reilly ever catch on there?
He looked good but a bit loss in his brief 19 game cameo last year after getting traded, but it was difficult to evaluate considering how bad the Habs were and especially on D.

But he's been the Habs best Dman at camp and has earned himself a spot in our top 4, he's really brought an element of skating and puck movement they were lacking.

Still has some issues defending at times, especially with gap control (as i'm sure you all are aware) but he looks good so far.
 

1909

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Jul 6, 2016
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Pronman's write up from Athletic.

Bitten is an explosive skater who brings a lot of energy and speed to every shift. His offense is never going to be a big selling point, but he has some hands and can make some plays. He likely projects out as a checker given his size and lack of dynamic abilities, but he can be a good penalty killer as a pro who is decent at evens.

Bitten is a Brendan Gallagher without the scoring touch.
 

Wabit

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May 23, 2016
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Meh for Meh trade. Olofsson went from fighting Reilly for a spot here to fighting Reilly for a spot in MTL. :badidea:

It's probably a good trade for Olofsson. A fresh start where he'll at least have a chance to crack MTL's lineup, something he (nor Reilly) didn't really have here.
 

thestonedkoala

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Big fan of this trade; Bitten is what the Wild need. A tenacious, hard-nose right winger that can fill in for depth. And it gets rid of the headache that is Olofsson, who could never stay healthy to develop into nothing more than Prosser's jockstrap.
 

Wabit

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May 23, 2016
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Big fan of this trade; Bitten is what the Wild need. A tenacious, hard-nose right winger that can fill in for depth. And it gets rid of the headache that is Olofsson, who could never stay healthy to develop into nothing more than Prosser's jockstrap.

Bitten won't see the NHL other than an injury call-up. He didn't really progress at all since his draft year. He didn't have a good camp from what MTL fans are saying.

Draft year: 30g/65p, -29 in 65 games (Flint); made Canada's U-18 team.
Draft year +1: 23g/57p, +13 in 65 games (Hamilton).
Draft year +2: 20g/67p in -4 in 65 games (Hamilton). He wore an "A".

He'll be a nice 3C/RW in Iowa. Rau, Kloos, Shaw, Ladoina (OHL), Kunin, Sokolov, and Anas are ahead of him.
 

thestonedkoala

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Bitten won't see the NHL other than an injury call-up. He didn't really progress at all since his draft year. He didn't have a good camp from what MTL fans are saying.

Draft year: 30g/65p, -29 in 65 games (Flint); made Canada's U-18 team.
Draft year +1: 23g/57p, +13 in 65 games (Hamilton).
Draft year +2: 20g/67p in -4 in 65 games (Hamilton). He wore an "A".

He's only twenty! Also he had more assists in his second year than his first, wore the A as well.

Rau, Kloos, Anas? Kloos had less assists and goals than Bitten did his first year. Anas is tiny. Kloos is also 4 years older and smaller than Bitten. Rau is also tiny and is 26. I don't see how Bitten is any worse than him. Sokolov plays a different game, Kunin shouldn't be considered even in the bottom 6. So, really he has Shaw and Lodnia in front of him.
 
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Wabit

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He is twenty year old. He had more assists and wore the a his second year there. I would say he doesn't have a chance if he was 27 and still in the A. But hes 20.

Any CHL player in his draft year +2 should have a nice raise in stats from his draft year, unless there is some injury. Not making the U-20 team after being on the U-18 team is somewhat of a red flag too. The drop off in goal scoring isn't a positive either, assists are nice, but you need to be able to score ~10 goals a year to be an asset in the NHL as a bottom-6 player.

5'10" 165 lbs tenacious works against kids, NHL players will just go through him. He can add some muscle weight, but he's buried behind better prospects of similar age.
 

2Pair

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Are you really breaking down the game of a player that you didn't even know existed 24 hours ago? Get real.
 

Wabit

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Are you really breaking down the game of a player that you didn't even know existed 24 hours ago? Get real.

I did watch a couple Bulldog games last year. I remember him from the U-18's a few years ago also.

He had 4 more goals that Kurtis Gabriel in his draft year+2. If he was in the draft this year, nobody would have looked twice at the kid. He'd probably end up with an AHL contract at best.
 

2Pair

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Way to double down on it. I'm sure you've seen him multiple times
 

Wild11MN

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Montreal fans seem to like Bitten, so sure, why not? Olofsson was not going anywhere on this team.
 

Wabit

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Way to double down on it. I'm sure you've seen him multiple times

Just the U-18s and the Memorial Cup games. I knew the name, but it took awhile to remember why I knew it. He had a goal in the semi's players like Sam Steel and the little Strome brother (still annoyed the Wild passed on him for Shaw/Lodnia) were the ones that drew my attention.
 

SomethingGeneric

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Sep 25, 2014
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I kinda like the trade honestly. Get a guy with some upside however limited for a guy who quite frankly didn't fit with the current team. Best of luck to Olf in his career, try to stay healthy man.
 

1909

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Habs are looking for any left shooting d-man who can skate fast and get the puck quickly out of the d zone. Bergevin has destroyed the whole left side of the D in the 2017 Summer, even trading his best blue chip prospect Sergachev. He has to re buid it.
 

Adam Michaels

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Jun 12, 2016
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Montreal fans seem to like Bitten, so sure, why not? Olofsson was not going anywhere on this team.

Those who would follow the prospects liked what Bitten brought. He can produce, but looking at his stats, it's not like it jumps out at you. What he does bring is a lot of energy. The kid's motor always runs. And he's super quick. I always likened him to a Byron/Gallagher hybrid, but a notch below those two. He is sometimes a little too fast for his own good. He will waste an opportunity because he is too fast for the play and is ahead of the play and he has to work on blending his stick handling when he carries the puck at warp speed. Sometimes he will mishandle the puck or go so fast that he gets in too close too quickly on the opposition and is easily countered. But he can work on all of that in the pros.

I think he will play in the NHL, but I don't think he'll be a Top-6. He may surpass that expectation, as has been the case with many players, but I see him as a Bottom-6 and even more a 4th liner or, at worse, a career AHL'er. But Wild fans should be happy they acquired him.

As for Montreal, what they're looking for are young left defensemen who will play in the AHL but have NHL experience for a call up. They don't really have many of those. They acquired Kulak from Calgary a few days before this trade. They will both start in Laval and at some point, I can see Kulak and/or Olofsson get the call due to injuries or to simply replace the likes of Benn, Alzner or Schlemko on the third pair.

With Minnesota's depth on the back end, Habs are trying to get some players they think are good enough but are just victims of the other team's depth at that position. They did that with Mike Reilly last trade deadline, and he's been the team's best defenseman this training camp, preseason, and on the first game against the Leafs on opening night.
 
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