Just like the previous 2 seasons he appeared in, Olofsson was on the score sheet in his first game of the season.
I think Olofsson is most definitely an underrated and underappreciated player here and throughout the league. Because he is already 25, turning 26 in July and still needs to play 21 more games to even have a full seasons worth of games to his resume I think he does not get the respect league wide he deserves. The guy is a damn good player. In fact, outside of Jack, Cozens and Hall I think Olofsson is right with Jack Quinn and above Reinhart in terms of forwards who are most essential to this team.
In 61 career games Olofsson has
23 goals, 25 assists and 48 points. Over a full season that is equivalent to a 31 goal, 34 assist, 65 point season. What is even crazier is that his productivity should be even higher. Olofsson, like virtually the entire Sabre squad post TDL last season went completely cold. He went on a 7 game pointless streak the 2 games prior to the TDL and 5 games after it. Luckily he ended the season with points in the last 2 games giving him a 3 game point streak going to last season. A guy who is essentially a 30 goal, 60 point forward in his mid 20s making a tad over 3 mil per is just an incredible steal. That is how you bridge. And when it comes to Olofsson or Reinhart, they are only 4 months apart in age and both on short term deals and both have RFA status at the end of their deals. Reinharts deal expires this summer while Olofssons in summer of 2022. I think it is clear that if the Sabres are able to keep Hall long term that it simply is not possible to keep Hall, Jack, Dahlin, Reinhart AND Olofsson long term, especially with Okposo and Skinners deal both on the books and Dylan Cozens ELC ending 1 season after VOs bridge.
When it comes down to Sam and VO on who I keep long term, it is Olofsson and I don't even have to think twice. He is more dynamic, with a better shot by far. Better goal scorer without a doubt, a better skater and just a bigger offensive threat. Sam is a fine player but at a 5.2 mil AAV and UFA years that will need to be bought, it just is not worth to pay 7-8 mil for Sam to get 50-60 points along with needing to be stapled to Jack. Olofsson is a player who seems to be able to play with any center talented and skilled enough to feed VO some nice passes and just fits better long term. The idea of giving Seattle Reinhart if they take Okposos last 2 years is a great idea IMO and frees up the cap space to give Dahlin his new contract this summer and Olofssons too.
Even though VO is actually older then Sam, I believe he actually has untapped potential being a late bloomer and only having 61 career games under his belt whilst Sam has over 400 career games and entering his 6th full season. I don't see Sam being able to produce a season offensively much better then the career year he had in 18-19 which was 65 points. I could see him maybe hitting 70 but he seems to be a~55 to 60 point player and a nearly finished product. Olofsson on the other hand is a player I believe has the potential to reach 40 goals in a season. Before his 7 game pointless streak, Olofsson was on pace for 35 goals and 75 points last season. As a rookie. On a team that has been atrocious offensively the entire 2010s.That is why VO has untapped potential and I can see him scoring 35-40 goals perennially to go with 70-75 points per. At the very least VO is going to be a 30-30 player and those are always valuable.
Olofsson is a special talent and by far one of the best 7th round picks in recent league history. If Sam was willing to sign for ~5.5-5.8 per for say 4-5 years and we were able to get out of Okposos contract without paying dearly then by all means I would love to keep both. But it just does not seem to be possible to keep both VO and Sam especially if we try to keep Taylor Hall. It sucks that Okposo still has 2 more seasons after this one and is stubborn to keep playing selfishly for the money when he clearly is a wreck physically and on the ice and barely NHL caliber anymore. Skinner is also a bad contract currently but that also has to do with his coach for some reason despising him not playing him with Jack even though he put up the first 40 goal Sabre campaign in nearly a decade.
As for VOs next contract, he will 27 when his next deal starts. A 6 year deal sounds good to me, keeping him here for his ages 27,28,29,30,31 and 32 year old seasons. I think 200 goals throughout that 6 year span is a lock, with Jack or with Cozens as his center. As for the salary, with him making 3.05 on his current deal I think we could get him signed for 6 mil at the most. His lack of experience at his current age even though it isn't really an issue could be used in contract negotiations to keep his salary below the 7 mil per mark. A 6/38-40 type deal is fair for both sides. 6.33 to 6.66 per for 6 years is great value for a 30-40 goal scorer.
He is starting this year like he did the last one. This guy is special. I want him here for a long time.
