Dependable Dollas : Mighty Duck Defenseman Doesn’t Grab Spotlight, but Still Shines for Team

If you don’t notice Mighty Duck defenseman Bobby Dollas, it’s not your fault. He operates in a hazy world, unseen but never unappreciated.

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There he is now, draped on the back of King forward Jari Kurri along the far corner boards.

And there, shoving Eric Lindros of Philadelphia away from the crease.

And there, sliding in front of a blistering blue-line slap shot from Detroit’s Paul Coffey.

Dollas is in those pictures only because he’s mixing it up with someone easy to focus on, usually a goal-scoring threat.

He has emerged this season as the epitome of a defensive defenseman. But because he’s playing in the shadows, doing all the dirty jobs that come his way, it’s tough to notice his standout play.

Fact is, this is Dollas’ finest NHL season.

He has established career highs with nine goals and 20 points and he leads the Ducks with a plus-19 plus-minus rating.

His contributions go far beyond mere numbers on a page, though.

Dollas is steady, dependable, versatile and so much better than the Ducks expected.

Given more ice time, more responsibility with the first-year Ducks, Dollas has responded like never before in a career that includes stops at Winnipeg, Quebec and Detroit.

Finding his niche for once in his career was crucial to Dollas’ success this season, Duck Coach Ron Wilson said.

“I told him to stay at home defensively and move the puck quickly and that’s what he’s done,” Wilson said. “Your job as a coach is to identify what a player can do best. You can’t ask small guys to be physical and big guys to be goal-scorers.”

It boils down to playing to one’s strengths, he said.

So Dollas camped out at the blue line, playing the old-style, physical defense Wilson wanted. He took his shots, picked his spots, and did what was needed.

There was no sense pushing the offensive envelope. Dollas realized he wouldn’t win a job with end-to-end rushes anyway.

“I came to training camp and they probably figured I would be the sixth defenseman,” said Dollas, who was taken from Detroit in the expansion draft last June.

“I want a role. I want to be on the ice in that crucial time. Bryan Murray (Detroit’s General Manager) said something I’ll always remember. He said it takes courage to score goals.”

Being a defenseman, Dollas focused on the courage part of the message and applied it to the rest of his game.

“You have to want the puck,” Dollas said. “You have to have courage to want that puck.”

After a slow start, Dollas began to improve, and it was no longer a leap of faith for Wilson to insert Dollas into the most difficult situations. And as Dollas became more comfortable, his confidence grew and he began playing that much better.

“Confidence comes with ice time,” veteran defenseman Randy Ladouceur said. “(Players) like to know they are going to be out there every night.

“Bobby’s played real well for us, real steady. He does a lot of things for us.”

Said Wilson: “I can put him in any situation.”

That’s nothing new for Dollas. What’s different is that it’s happening in the NHL this season instead of the minors.

Last season, Dollas played for Adirondack of the American Hockey League, Detroit’s minor-league affiliate, and was nothing short of brilliant. In 64 games, he scored seven goals, added 36 assists and had a plus-minus rating of plus-53.

But he played only six games with the Red Wings and they decided not to protect him in the expansion draft.

Dollas wasn’t bitter, but wasn’t happy that Murray didn’t have more faith in his abilities.

As it turned out, a fresh start was what Dollas needed most of all. He knew he wasn’t washed up and when the Ducks made him their eighth pick, he got a chance to prove it.

But in addition to fighting for a job during training camp, Dollas had to battle the prevailing perception that he was a good minor-leaguer but not an every-day NHL defenseman.

“Always, that was the attitude of a lot of people,” he said. “I was a good minor-league player. If somebody got hurt, well, they could always bring up Bobby Dollas. He’s steady. He won’t hurt us.”

Once, when Dollas was in the Quebec organization, two defensemen went down with injuries. The call went out for Dollas, who came up from the minors to fill in for a game against the Nordiques’ bitter rivals, the Montreal Canadiens.

“The two guys then said, ‘We’re OK now,’ ” Dollas said.

They played poorly and Montreal routed Quebec, “something like, 6-1,” according to Dollas. The Nordiques lost badly in their next game, then sent Dollas back to the minors without ever suiting him up.

Final self-evaluation probably won’t come until season’s end, when Dollas has time to reflect on his first year in Anaheim. But for now, with only six games left, he’s pleased to have made such an impact for the Ducks.

“This year has been the most gratifying,” he said. “More and more I’ve been a go-to guy. There’s a lot of satisfaction in that.”