3 players the Red Wings must target at the trade deadline after Dylan Larkin’s injury

Victor Olofsson has been a pure scorer in the past

Victor Olofsson is the one player who you may raise your eyebrows at, considering how ineffective of a scorer he’s been this past season. Olofsson has also seen time in just 35 contests and has been a healthy scratch often (he was most recently out with an illness recently, however), so why would Yzerman even consider trading for who has become arguably the Sabres least effective player?

One reason is that Olofsson is one of those players who can be deceptive, and several times throughout his stint with the Sabres, he has gotten hot for long stretches. Few wingers in the NHL can keep up with Olofsson once he decides to produce, something we saw at several points last season when he scored 28 times and even late in the 2021-22 season.

Olofsson has historically scored well on the power play, often from the circle, and once again, if Yzerman takes a flier on the 28-year-old and he finds his game, he will make Detroit’s already strong power play even stronger. Best yet, he won’t cost much, so if Yzerman isn’t looking to give up a lot, then Olofsson could come to Detroit at a cheap price and perhaps surprise a lot of fans with his scoring prowess. 

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)