Longtime Sabres winger hoping to be traded

The future of Victor Olofsson in Buffalo has been a topic of speculation for a few years now, but each time, the winger has stuck around.  However, Olofsson told Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News earlier this week that he has approached GM Kevyn Adams about finding a new place for him to play:

"I’ve got to play hockey, and right now, I’m not doing it. You always have to think about yourself and your career. I’ve always had a great time here, and I love it here, but I’ve got to think about myself obviously. If there’s an opportunity to go somewhere and play, that would be the ideal thing."

The 28-year-old has been a frequent healthy scratch this season, and when he has been in the lineup, he hasn’t been able to produce at the level he has in the past. In 35 games, Olofsson has been limited to four goals and eight assists.  Last season, he had 28 goals on his own and has hit the 20-goal mark in three of the last four years, a mark he’s unlikely to reach now in 2023-24.

Of course, while Olofsson may be hoping to find a new place to play, finding a team that can afford him will be trickier.  He has a $4.75M cap hit and salary, a mark few contending teams can take on.  Even with the maximum 50% retention, several playoff-bound squads still couldn’t take the remaining half of the contract on, nor would they want to cough up any return of significance and possibly take themselves out of the market for a more impactful player.

Accordingly, it’s quite possible that Olofsson’s best chance to leave the Sabres is to find a non-playoff team that can afford his contract.  More specifically, a team with some injuries is looking for some players to fill out their roster or one with a similarly underachieving forward in a swap of expiring contracts.  But even with that scenario, Olofsson’s request to be moved might not be able to be honored.

Instead of his platform free agent year being strong, it has been anything but.  He hoped he’d be playing for a big contract this summer, but now, playing as a regular in a lineup somewhere appears to be Olofsson’s new goal.