The Vegas Golden Knights
lost their best scorer, Pavel Dorofeyev
, this past offseason. But one under-the-radar winger could provide relief.
Losing a 37-goal scorer is never easy. But as Dorofeyev looks to help turn around the New York Rangers
' fortunes, the Golden Knights may have an answer from a returning face.
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NHL.com's Nicholas J. Cotsonika mentioned Victor Olofsson
in his Golden Knights preview as one player to watch.
Cotsonika wrote, "…he (Olofsson) had 15 goals in 56 games for the Golden Knights in 2024-25, and he set an NHL career high with 28 goals in 75 games for the Buffalo Sabres
in 2022-23. The 31-year-old likely will play a third-line role. If he can score in the 20-goal range, that will help offset the loss of Dorofeyev."
Victor Olofsson Could Be An Unlikely Hero For The Golden Knights
After spending time with the Colorado Avalanche
and Calgary Flames
in 2025-26, Olofsson returned to the Golden Knights on a one-year deal. Since he burst onto the NHL scene with the Buffalo Sabres
in 2018-19, Olofsson has been one of the better underrated players in the league.
Olofsson reached the 20-goal mark on three separate occasions with Buffalo. He solidified himself as a power-play specialist, potting 32 goals on the man advantage between 2019-20 and 2022-23. In that span, he recorded 163 points and 81 goals across 257 contests.
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Olofsson has played reliable middle-six and occasional top-six minutes at certain points throughout his career. He proved to be a team player during a transition year in Buffalo in 2023-24. That season, he appeared in just 51 games as the Sabres started favoring younger, more upstart talent.
He showed that reliability during his 2024- 25 campaign in Vegas. Olofsson ended the year with 29 points, 15 goals, and six power-play goals across 14:30 of average total ice time. He notched a career-high plus-17 and finished the season with a 53.6 Corsi For Percentage at even strength.
Olofsson Isn't The Only Familiar Face Looking To Rebound In Vegas
William Karlsson
is another forward who will help fill the void Dorofeyev left. Karlsson saw action in just 14 regular-season games in 2025-26, logging four goals and seven points. His solid productivity continued in the playoffs, when he had three goals and nine points across 15 postseason contests. Karlsson also recorded a plus-10 in the postseason despite a 43.2 Corsi For Percentage.
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That performance came following a nine-goal, 29-point season across 53 regular-season games in 2024-25. Still, Karlsson is just two seasons removed from a 30-goal campaign in 2023-24, when he converted 17.1 percent of his shots on goal.
Should Karlsson stay healthy, he and Olofsson could put a significant dent into replacing those 37 goals Vegas won't get from Dorofeyev. That would be huge for a Golden Knights team that finished toward the middle of the pack in 2025-26 with 264 goals, good for 14th in the NHL.
The more help the Golden Knights can get from players not named Jack Eichel
, Mark Stone
, Mitch Marner
, Ivan Barbashev
, and Tomas Hertl
, the better position they will find themselves in to finish what they started last season. And if the outer supporting cast is not limited to just Olofsson and Karlsson, the Knights could even improve their scoring totals.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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