Fredrik Olofsson’s family moved around a lot when he was a child, but one four-year stop in San Jose meant going to Sharks games and skating with other youth hockey players during intermissions.
Flash forward to last season, Olofsson’s first with some time spent in the NHL, and his long journey to the top of the sport came full circle: There, sitting across from him in the Dallas Stars locker room, was Joe Pavelski, one of the players he watched so intently as an elementary school kid.
“It was nuts,” Olofsson said. “What a guy. He’s such a pro, but he also acts like he’s 16 still sometimes. He can talk to anyone, and wears many hats.”
Olofsson’s NHL career is only 33 games old, but he’s already lived an eventful hockey life. His family lived in Sweden, Germany, Austria and Northern California before settling in Colorado the summer before he started eighth grade.
His older brother, Gustav, has played 62 NHL games, including three last season with the Seattle Kraken. His younger brother, Jesper, is currently a defenseman for Monarch High School.
And Fredrik is now the fourth-line center for his adopted hometown’s team, the Avalanche, after joining Colorado in a June trade.
“For us as a family, obviously it’s fantastic,” Håkan Olofsson, Fredrik’s father, said. “We’re extremely thrilled and proud and happy to see him get the opportunity. I think we’ve known he’s had some really great upside. And I think he’s taken an unusual path to get to the NHL. But everybody has their own journey. He found what worked for him.”
Gustav and Fredrik were born in Sweden. Like most Swedish kids, it was hockey in the winters and soccer in the summers. In a surprising twist, it was actually when the family lived in Vienna, Austria, that the hockey bug really caught the Olofsson family.
Håkan was a soccer player, a towering 6-foot-7 defender who likely scared quite a few opposing teams in the lower divisions of Swedish soccer when he came forward for corner kicks in his day. His wife, Ulrika, was also a great athlete who played several sports in her youth.
“The Austrians, they were kind of interesting,” Håkan said. “Even at that age, they practice three, four times a week, and it was pretty intense. So when we moved to San Jose the next year, that was kind of the natural sport, even though they also played soccer at the time. They had just gotten farther along on the hockey side, so it was more natural for them and it became their main sport.
“With three boys at this level of hockey, it becomes not just a hobby – it’s a lifestyle. It’s kind of what we do. My colleagues tease me, but I say, ‘Hey, my best weekends are when we have three, four hockey games on the calendar.’ That’s what I like to do.”
The Olofssons spent four years in San Jose, which is where Jesper was born, before moving back to Sweden for three years. The next move was to Broomfield, and it proved to be their last.
Gustav and Fredrik found a club home with the Colorado Thunderbirds.
“We were trying to find tryouts after coming here in the summer. Coming from Sweden, we didn’t really know what levels meant what, just that the more A’s, the better,” Fredrik said. “So we got in with the Thunderbirds and luckily I made that team. I was in the same age group as Dominic Turgeon, and he became one of my best friends. Pierre was a great coach for us. We had group that stuck together for four or five years, and it was just a blast.”
That group also included future NHL players Troy Terry, Brandon Carlo, Mikey Eyssimont and Dylan Gambrell. Olofsson spent two years in the USHL, which included getting drafted by Chicago in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL draft, and then four years of college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha.
The Blackhawks passed on signing him, so Olofsson went home to Sweden. After a season in the second division and then two successful years with IK Oskarshamn in the SHL, the Stars signed him and he split last season between the AHL and NHL.
Colorado added him for cash, a minor transaction that even diehard fans might have missed. But the Avs gave him a chance to win the No. 4 center job during training camp, and he basically went wire-to-wire as the lead candidate.
“I think he plays the game the right way,” linemate Andrew Cogliano said. “I think he has the right intentions of knowing how he has to play defensively and being reliable. Now I think it’s a matter of the three of us jelling.
“He’s a smart guy. He has a great work ethic and wants to get better. Usually, when you have guys like that, they find a way to make things work.”
Cogliano, Olofsson and Logan O’Connor had been a hit together so far. The Avalanche had created nearly 71 percent of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 when Olofsson was on the ice entering Saturday night’s game against Carolina, 70 percent of the shots on goal and more than 67 percent of the expected goals – all excellent offensive numbers for defensive-minded players.
Olofsson’s also found a significant role on the penalty kill, despite not playing a second in those situations for Dallas in 28 games last season. He averaged 2:25 per night on the PK in the first four games, while the Avs started the year a perfect 17-for-17 on the kill.
“Steady, smart player, especially on the defending side of the puck,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s kind of fit right with Cogs and OC. That’s been a good line for us, doing exactly what we expect them to do.”
When the Olofssons came to Colorado, it was because Håkan started a new job, with Ball Aerospace. Two years later, one of his previous employers tried to lure him back to Silicon Valley in Northern California.
The family decided Colorado was where new roots were being put down, and the moving around was at an end.
“We’re from northern Sweden, my wife and I, so we’re used to four seasons,” Håkan said. “But here, the winters are pretty mild to us, and they’re sunny. The summers and springs and falls are much longer than we’re used to in Sweden, so climate-wise, you can’t beat it. The only downside is there’s no ocean around, so we miss out on some family and Swedish traditions, but we make the most of it when we get to travel home to Sweden.
“We also felt we wanted more stability, and I found a great company to work for here with Ball. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.”
Fredrik is very proud of his Swedish heritage, but he also talks like someone who grew up in Colorado and California. He did admit that when he’s around Mikko Rantanen, or other Swedish and Finnish players, his “European English” accent returns.
For his parents, having two of their sons playing about an hour apart is a blessing. Gustav is playing for Coachella Valley, Seattle’s AHL affiliate, but Fredrik and Jesper are close enough to go to each other’s games. Jesper’s teammates at Monarch get pretty excited when they see a current NHL player in the stands.
“We’re thrilled about that,” Håkan said. “I don’t know if I’ll make it to 41 home games this year, but we’ll give it our best shot.”
Fredrik played in Denver last year during a preseason game, but was a healthy scratch his one trip here during the regular season. So Thursday night was the first time he played an NHL game that counts at Ball Arena.
He grew up going to games there when it was still Pepsi Center. This season, he’s already played in San Jose against a team he grew up watching, against his brother’s organization in Seattle and against the franchise that drafted him but declined to sign him (Chicago).
The home opener in particular meant a lot, because his family was there to support him.
“My dad has sacrificed a lot and traveled a ton. My mom has been a rock star, taking care of me and my two brothers,” Fredrik said. “It’s not easy when you’ve got three boys at home that are full of energy and probably beating up on each other.
“My brothers and I were always playing outside, playing in the garage. We broke … way too many things. I’m sure it drove my mom crazy, but it’s been a hell of a ride.”
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