Confirmed with Link: Olofsson to Montreal

[Runner77]

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

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.

Looking into his injury history, seems to be quite extensive.

From an article dated June 26th 2017:

Olofsson likely would have stuck on the NHL roster sooner had it not been for a series of injuries, which included a torn labrum in both of his shoulders as well as a minor medial collateral ligament sprain in his right knee during the Traverse City Prospect Tournament last summer (2016)

Wild sign prospect Gustav Olofsson to two-year contract

And then this:

Olofsson was taken 46th overall in the NHL Entry Draft coming off a stellar season in the USHL for the Green Bay Gamblers (23 points in 63 games, +11 rating) which resulted in him playing in the NHL/AHL top prospects game that year and catching the eyes of Minnesota’s scouts.

Following the draft, Olofsson spent one season at Colorado College before signing an entry level deal with the Minnesota Wild and making the jump to the AHL. He played 8 games in Iowa to finish that year, and scored a goal in his AHL debut.

His professional career got off to a terrible start in his first season at Iowa, as he injured his shoulder in the first game of the season (his third such shoulder injury of his young career), which required surgery and caused him to miss the entire year of hockey

Entering training camp the following year, Olofsson impressed all of the coaching staff and had a real chance to make the Minnesota Wild roster as a 20 year old. He got a brief taste of regular season action in November 2015, but spent the rest of the season in Iowa again before requiring another shoulder surgery in February. His fourth major shoulder injury of his career.

Olofsson rehabbed that injury quickly, and was ready for training camp in fall 2016. Again impressive in camp, Olofsson sprained his MCL in a preseason game which cost him an opportunity to secure an NHL spot and was left in Iowa to start the year.

He impressed in Iowa through the 2016-17 season, recording 24 points in 59 games and earning 13 games at the NHL level with Minnesota where he managed 3 points at the NHL Level. His season was again cut short, though, with an undisclosed upper body injury suffered in March while with Minnesota.

2017-18 was truly meant to be the season of Gustav Olofsson. He made the Minnesota Wild roster out of camp following a season mostly injury free, beating out Kyle Quincey for the 6th defense spot. The return of Nate Prosser in November made for a more crowded team and Olofsson spent the rest of the year battling with Mike Reilly and Ryan Murphy for ice time.

In March, he was again struck by the injury bug as he lost time to a concussion at the worst time.

Minnesota Wild: 2018-19 Season Preview of Gustav Olofsson


Is it a stretch to believe that Minnesota decided to cut their losses and only made him available on account of so many major injuries suffered by Olofsson in such a short time? Four major shoulder injuries (including a torn labrum in each shoulder that required surgeries)? Followed by a lesser injury like the sprained MCL, however, there was that undisclosed upper body injury in March 2017 -- it was serious enough to cut his season short. And in March 2018, a concussion.

Is there more to his injury history than the above? Given the above alone, Minnesota wins the trade just on account of getting a healthy body back.

 

[SupremeNachos]

Looking into his injury history, seems to be quite extensive.

From an article dated June 26th 2017:

Olofsson likely would have stuck on the NHL roster sooner had it not been for a series of injuries, which included a torn labrum in both of his shoulders as well as a minor medial collateral ligament sprain in his right knee during the Traverse City Prospect Tournament last summer (2016)

Wild sign prospect Gustav Olofsson to two-year contract

And then this:

Olofsson was taken 46th overall in the NHL Entry Draft coming off a stellar season in the USHL for the Green Bay Gamblers (23 points in 63 games, +11 rating) which resulted in him playing in the NHL/AHL top prospects game that year and catching the eyes of Minnesota’s scouts.

Following the draft, Olofsson spent one season at Colorado College before signing an entry level deal with the Minnesota Wild and making the jump to the AHL. He played 8 games in Iowa to finish that year, and scored a goal in his AHL debut.

His professional career got off to a terrible start in his first season at Iowa, as he injured his shoulder in the first game of the season (his third such shoulder injury of his young career), which required surgery and caused him to miss the entire year of hockey

Entering training camp the following year, Olofsson impressed all of the coaching staff and had a real chance to make the Minnesota Wild roster as a 20 year old. He got a brief taste of regular season action in November 2015, but spent the rest of the season in Iowa again before requiring another shoulder surgery in February. His fourth major shoulder injury of his career.

Olofsson rehabbed that injury quickly, and was ready for training camp in fall 2016. Again impressive in camp, Olofsson sprained his MCL in a preseason game which cost him an opportunity to secure an NHL spot and was left in Iowa to start the year.

He impressed in Iowa through the 2016-17 season, recording 24 points in 59 games and earning 13 games at the NHL level with Minnesota where he managed 3 points at the NHL Level. His season was again cut short, though, with an undisclosed upper body injury suffered in March while with Minnesota.

2017-18 was truly meant to be the season of Gustav Olofsson. He made the Minnesota Wild roster out of camp following a season mostly injury free, beating out Kyle Quincey for the 6th defense spot. The return of Nate Prosser in November made for a more crowded team and Olofsson spent the rest of the year battling with Mike Reilly and Ryan Murphy for ice time.

In March, he was again struck by the injury bug as he lost time to a concussion at the worst time.

Minnesota Wild: 2018-19 Season Preview of Gustav Olofsson


Is it a stretch to believe that Minnesota decided to cut their losses and only made him available on account of so many major injuries suffered by Olofsson in such a short time? Four major shoulder injuries (including a torn labrum in each shoulder that required surgeries)? Followed by a lesser injury like the sprained MCL, however, there was that undisclosed upper body injury in March 2017 -- it was serious enough to cut his season short. And in March 2018, a concussion.

Is there more to his injury history than the above? Given the above alone, Minnesota wins the trade just on account of getting a healthy body back.

He's had at least 1 big concussion, but I don't know what else.

 

[TaLoN]

Is it a stretch to believe that Minnesota decided to cut their losses and only made him available on account of so many major injuries suffered by Olofsson in such a short time? Four major shoulder injuries (including a torn labrum in each shoulder that required surgeries)? Followed by a lesser injury like the sprained MCL, however, there was that undisclosed upper body injury in March 2017 -- it was serious enough to cut his season short. And in March 2018, a concussion.

Is there more to his injury history than the above? Given the above alone, Minnesota wins the trade just on account of getting a healthy body back.

Yes and no... yes it's a stretch because even when he was healthy, his progress on the ice left a LOT to be desired. He just isn't a very smart player. No, it's not a stretch because he had missed so much development time due to severe injuries that itself may have started the stagnation in his development.

He has the physical tools to be an NHL player, but he doesn't have the head for it at this point. Would he get the mental side of it better had he not missed so much time due to injury? It's possible, but it's also no guarantee he would have.

Add in the emergence of Nick Seeler as a player, and Olofsson was just getting squeezed out by so much quality on the left side of the defense, he really had no more chance here.

Suter, Brodin, Seeler all established full time NHL players ahead of him, all playing at a level he has not shown he can match. Then with the D we drafted in recent years... he really had no future here anymore.

 

[Wabit]

Yes and no... yes it's a stretch because even when he was healthy, his progress on the ice left a LOT to be desired. He just isn't a very smart player. No, it's not a stretch because he had missed so much development time due to severe injuries that itself may have started the stagnation in his development.

He has the physical tools to be an NHL player, but he doesn't have the head for it at this point. Would he get the mental side of it better had he not missed so much time due to injury? It's possible, but it's also no guarantee he would have.

I disagree with you there. Before last season he was just an injury callup with 0 chance of making the lineup with Brodin, Scandella, and Suter ahead of him. Then last year they had the weird situation between him and Reilly (few games on the ice and then a few games in the pressbox). Oh and they both had to play with the trainwreck known as Quincey to start the season. Just getting steady playing time and some semblance of normalcy could do wonders for him.

His health is a big concern for sure. His time was also up in MN after the last injury. He had a chance to be the 3rd pair LD coming into camp, the injury wiped that out.

 

[57special]

I agree with Wabit, and disagree with Talon that he isn't a smart player. I think Reilly played a "stupider" game. Olofsson simply couldn't get any traction because of all the injuries.

 

[TaLoN]

I agree with Wabit, and disagree with Talon that he isn't a smart player. I think Reilly played a "stupider" game. Olofsson simply couldn't get any traction because of all the injuries.

When I say not a smart player, I'm comparing him to those ahead of him in the lineup now. Reilly isn't one of those players. Neither played a smart game compared to what we saw from Suter, Brodin and Seeler. Both were frequently out of position because they couldn't get the mental side of the NHL game while here.

Reilly was shipped out and the team was ready to sink or swim with Olofsson... but he kept struggling, then got injured again which forced Seeler to get his first opportunity. Seeler was an instant upgrade and a real revelation for the team. Seeler leapfrogging Olofsson because of his hockey smarts more than anything was the beginning of the end of Olofsson's time in a Wild uniform. Yes, Olofsson was being given a chance to fight for the 3rd pair spot, but he was fighting that battle from behind already going into camp. It was Seeler's spot to lose. Olofsson got injured and Seeler continued to play well.

It was a battle Olofsson likely was never going to win anyway, because Seeler is just a more heady player.

If he couldn't beat Seeler, he simply wasn't going to be here anymore, because Prosser is the better 7th D.

 

[Wabit]

Now we know the reason Olofsson was traded after he cleared waivers. J.T. Brown wanted number 23.