It's "the grass is always greener" mentality.
His 5-on-5 game has improved so much, even while obviously hampered much of the season with injury. I'll be extremely disappointed if Oly's not back. Discarding a home-grown 7th-rounder with his talent, who's taken a long time to develop, just when he's starting to blossom, would be incredibly stupid.
The grass isn't always greener, but there are some players who are better than Victor Olosson. I've mentioned Bryan Rust and Nick Paul as examples I would rather target with the money and term we would commit to VO on a long term deal.
And while his 5 on 5 game has improved, it's still not as good as certain other players out there, Rust in particular. Or if there's any chance we could pry him out of COL, Nichushkin who plays at a Selke caliber level.
I'm excited to see what they can achieve next season, but you don't discard a guy who's probably hitting his peak starting next season because he *might* be made redundant by players who haven't yet proven themselves.
That's not "team building". It's "gambling".
It's not "gambling" if you're letting VO go and replacing him with a superior player via UFA or trade. It's a gamble if you let VO walk and don't replace him and just "hope" that youngsters will take his spot. That's a key difference.
I'm not a proponent of letting him go if we're not bringing in someone else of equal or better quality at the F position who we think is a better fit (brings a different element, is a more multi-dimensional player, etc.).