Shortly after another strong performance in a Colorado Avalanche exhibition game Sunday night, Swedish forward Fredrik Olofsson borrowed from the words and wisdom of one of America’s finest fictional coaches, Ted Lasso.
Olofsson, whom the Avs acquired for future considerations from the Dallas Stars in mid-June, is part of camp’s biggest battle — the one for the fourth-line center role. Given how he’s played and practiced, Olofsson likely would be Colorado’s No. 4 center if opening night was today.
Does he think he’s done enough?
“You have to kind of be able when you go home and close your eyes for the night to be happy with the effort you put in,” Olofsson said. “You can’t control if you score every single one or make every single stop.
“You’ve just got to be a goldfish. Just go out there and whatever happens, try to learn from it and go on to the next one. The second you start worrying about if you’ve done enough or if you’re doing that, it’s like … that’s time you could spend doing something else. I’m just trying to be present and enjoy it.”
Olofsson scored a pretty goal Sunday night, crashing the net and batting a rebound out of mid-air into the net. That’s not why he looks to be the leader for the only open lineup spot if everyone is healthy when the Avs play Oct. 11 in Los Angeles. He’s checking nearly all of the boxes for what coach Jared Bednar wants for a player in that role.
“I think he’s been really good at center,” Bednar said. “He’s been really competitive on draws, he’s a good two-way player, he’s chipping in on the offensive side of it. Responsible guy. Yeah, he looks good in the middle of the ice.”
Olofsson had played a lot of center in his career, but spent most of last season on the wing while he split his first professional season in North America between the Texas Stars and the parent club in Dallas. He had one goal and four points in 28 NHL games, along with five tallies and 14 points in 37 AHL contests.
The NHL debut a season ago was a long time coming for the now 27-year-old Olofsson. A Helsingborg, Sweden, native, Olofsson played for the Colorado Thunderbirds at the U-14 and U-16 levels before parts of three seasons in the USHL. The Chicago Blackhawks drafted him in the fourth round in 2014, but after four seasons of college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha, Olofsson went home without a contract.
After three strong seasons in Sweden, the Stars signed him to a one-year contract in May 2022. Now back in Colorado, his game against his former club Sunday night might have gone a long way to help him secure a spot in the lineup next week against the Kings.
“Solid, but I know I’ve got more,” Olofsson said of the performance. “A couple reads that I could’ve done better, but we’re also getting used to a few new things like with the PK and the 6-on-5 at the end. I’m happy with how I competed, but execution on a couple of things could have led to some more o-zone time. But we’re going in the right direction.”
Olofsson sounds more like someone from Steamboat Springs than Sweden when he speaks, but he did note that when he heard something that wasn’t English during the game Sunday night, it was one of his former Swedish teammates in the Dallas organization talking to him. Two of his former Stars teammates have actually been skating next to him for a lot of camp — Riley Tufte and Joel Kiviranta.
All three have played well enough to make the team, but it’s possible that only one or two will. Olofsson has the advantage because it sure looks like the coaching staff trusts him at center more than Tufte, who had a couple of chances there early in camp but is now back on the wing. One of Kiviranta or Tufte (or both) could make the team as extra forwards, or end up on waivers.
“We played together a little bit in Texas there,” Olofsson said of Tufte. “Not to pump his tires or my own, but we were beasts together. I think we’ve carried that a little bit into this preseason.
“It’s fun to be in a locker room like this and play alongside a guy like (Nate) MacKinnon. In my opinion, he’s the most dynamic, explosive player right now in the game. It’s fun to see him and learn from him. There are little things he says, little tips that help.”
Olofsson has been one of the surprises of Avs training camp had more unexpected answer in him. When asked who is favorite character was on “Ted Lasso,” the recently concluded show about an American football coach plying his trade in the English Premier League, Olofsson went with … Led Tasso, the coach’s “bad cop” alter ego.
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