Victor Olofsson Returns To Golden Knights’ Lineup

Vegas Golden Knights head coach Ryan Craig told reporters Thursday afternoon that forward Victor Olofsson will return to the lineup tonight against the Red Wings in Detroit. He’ll play on the third line with Tomas Hertl and rookie Trevor Connelly, as reported by Knights’ reporter Danny Webster.

Olofsson got off to a red-hot start in his second stint with Vegas, with four goals and an assist in his first four games, including a two-goal night against the Kraken on October 6. Later in that game, Kraken forward Ben Meyers hit him into the boards. Meyers was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct, and Olofsson had to be helped off the ice. He was placed on long-term injured reserve and had been considered week-to-week since.

Although Vegas sits second in the Pacific with 22 points, it has struggled of late, going 2-3-2 over its last seven games. The most recent win came Tuesday in Pittsburgh, where Hertl scored his second power-play goal of the night in the final minute of regulation for a 3-2 victory.

A seventh-round pick (181st overall) of the Buffalo Sabres in 2014, the Swede spent the next four seasons in the SHL with MoDo and Frölunda. In his first year in North America, Olofsson wasted no time making an impact, posting 30 goals and 63 points in 66 games for the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, in 2018-19. That earned him a late-season recall to Buffalo. He stuck with the Sabres for good the following fall and never looked back, finishing with 90 goals and 182 points in 314 games across parts of six seasons with the club.

Since leaving Buffalo, the winger has been something of a journeyman. He signed one-year deals with Vegas in 2024 and Colorado in 2025, and in March, Colorado sent him to Calgary in the trade that brought Nazem Kadri back to the Avalanche. He returned to the Golden Knights on a one-year, $1.64MM contract on July 1.