Friendly Fire : Defenseman Olausson’s Spark of Offense Boosts Duck Power Play to Top of NHL

Everybody, it seems, loves Freddy.

Ask anyone around the Mighty Ducks’ dressing room about defenseman Fredrik Olausson. Then sit back and listen to them gush.

“Freddy? He’s almost Russian,” defenseman Ruslan Salei said.

It’s not that Olausson holds court, like teammate Teemu Selanne, tossing out clever, sometimes strange, quips. Olausson merely plops down in his seat and watches.

“Freddy’s a great guy,” Selanne said. “Even if he’s from Sweden.”

It’s not that he has a gift for gab, like goalie Guy Hebert. Olausson tends to speak softly, even about carrying a big hockey stick.

“Anyone who has put in 14 years, you have to love,” Hebert said.

Basically, it is almost impossible not to be fond of the 33-year-old Olausson. His sly grin, and even slier playing style, returned to the Ducks last season after nearly two seasons in Pittsburgh. Smiles around the dressing room followed. Winning does that.

The key to the team’s drive to the playoffs last season? The power play. The key to the power play? Olausson.

The Ducks signed him as a free agent to beef up the power play. They had the best in the NHL.

So the best reason for the Ducks to love Olausson? Other teams hate having to deal with him.

“He’s a different sort of player,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “Freddy is a thinker. He makes smart decisions. With him, it’s less physical and more brain.”

*

One of the most effective things about the Duck power play last season--second only to Paul Kariya’s blistering shot from the point--was Olausson lulling the defense into a coma, then slipping backdoor.

It produced goals. Olausson was the fourth highest-scoring defenseman in the league last season with 56 points. Of his 16 goals, 10 were on the power play.

It also made opponents nervous enough to leave Kariya alone at the blue line. That, needless to say, also produced goals. Olausson’s 33 power-play assists were the most by an NHL defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1995-96.

And about every time Olausson made the move, defenders bit.

“I’m probably going to have to come up with a new trick,” said Olausson, grinning his grin.

Not a pleasant thought for opponents, who have been trying to deal with Olausson since he came from Sweden in 1986. Then, just when his skills seemed in decline, he came up with what may have been his best season.

“I might not go that far, but things worked out fairly well,” Olausson said. “The team didn’t do very good the year before and few of us came with positive attitudes.

“Last year was basically setting out on a direction we were going to take and laying the foundation. We’re looking to take another step forward this year and become a better hockey club. Whether that will happen or not is a different question.”

It seems more certain than a year ago, when Olausson signed a two-year contract that will pay him $1 million this season.

General Manager Pierre Gauthier spent the summer improving the defense, bringing in Oleg Tverdovsky and Niclas Havelid, who, like Olausson, comes from Sweden.

Those two should improve the Ducks’ ability to get the puck out of their own end--a sore point with forwards, particularly Kariya, last season.

Having Olausson back, though, was just as important. After all, in NHL history, only one defenseman born outside of North America has scored more points than Olausson.

“Freddy is so smart and so good with the puck that he makes things happen,” Selanne said. “He always knows when it is time to shoot and when it is time to pass. That’s big. A lot of guys may have a better shot or they pass the puck better. But they don’t have his timing.”

*

Olausson held his grin, but winced, when asked about his defensive skills.

For years he has fought his own image, that of an offensive defenseman. Now he is almost resigned to opinions he can’t change, whether they are right or wrong.

“People talk about my offense and I have certain qualities that are better than others,” Olausson said. “Yeah, I guess I got to realize that. It’s kind of silly to think about any player as one-dimensional. I don’t think anyone is that, but you’re better at some things than you are at others.”

It can work to his advantage. Opponents can underestimate him.

Besides, he gets high marks from the one player whose opinion matters the most--Hebert.

“Freddy isn’t the biggest guy or the toughest guy, but he has a lot of information in his head,” Hebert said. “He has been in the game so long that he knows how to position himself. He doesn’t often get caught out of position. It’s comforting having him back there.”

That’s something Havelid has discovered. As a 26-year-old rookie, he is being asked to jump right into the NHL. And he has come to love his countryman as a natural tutor.

“It helps just having someone who can speak the same language,” Havelid said. “It helps more that it’s Freddy. He’s a legend in Sweden. I got to meet him in a charity game a few years ago. It was a big moment.”

Olausson, who spent the summer in Sweden, knew little of the Ducks’ moves until Tomas Sandstrom brought him up to speed in July. But he knew about Havelid.

“It was in all the papers in Sweden,” Olausson said. “Anyone who wants to talk, I’m always open to listen.

“I, personally, want to make this a better hockey club. That not only involves me playing well, but also helping some of the younger players develop their skills and knowledge of the game.

“I do put a lot of pressure on myself to do the things I do well. If you got a skill, you work hard at your skill, you can go a long way.”

There is one final destination Olausson would love.

“I haven’t won the cup yet,” he said. “That would be quite a feather in my hat.”