[Sandman]

LHD Anton Olsson,6'1"183lbs (Malmo,SHL): 39gp/0g/4a/4pts,31PIM, seems like paltry production, and his offensive game is often downplayed, but consider this: his 4pts was the second-best point total for players under 18 years old in the SHL-better than Lysell, Robertsson, Rosen, or Eljas. His p/gp was tied with Simon Edvinsson (0.10), and he played the most games in the SHL (the top league in Sweden), of anyone in his age group. Olsson also had time in the J20 league (7gp/1g/3a/4pts,2PIM), where he was 5th overall in p/gp for D-men under the age of 18 (0.57), ahead of Edvinsson (0.43), and Sjoholm (0.33). He was a regular on Malmo's SHL club, where he was given more ice-time and responsibility than LA Kings' 2020 second-rounder Helge Grans. At the U-18s, he had 3 assists in 7 games, and was named one of Sweden's top 3 players by the coaching staff. His ability in the defensive zone, and in transition is his calling card, but he has some chops in the offensive zone too. Smart, poised defender with exceptional IQ, and terrific in all three zones.

Olsson is an excellent, albeit perhaps not elite, skater-but is smooth, agile, and has nice closing speed. Great edges and lateral agility help him wield his superb gap-control. He can pinch to keep the play alive, and get back to his defensive position quickly. Pivots well, and is a good backwards skater. Fantastic with the puck in transition, and affects zone entries and exits with quality first-passes, or by weaving through the defensive, and neutral zone with control. Has the top-end vision and passing to create offense off the rush, and can deke through multiple layers of traffic, and make the D back up. Beautiful stickhandler with good puck protection, and puck skills-he drives the play, opens up passing and shooting lanes from the line, and makes himself available on the cycle. He carries an array of decent shots, but he's most likely to sneak up to the top of the circle to unleash his wrister. He's a volume shooter.

Olsson's defensive awareness is top-notch, even against men in the SHL, and is very hard to beat in 1-on1's. He has a quick stick and airtight positioning to break up passes, or throw out a poke-check. Keeps attackers to the outside, and in low-danger, and does the same on the cycle. He snuffs out any chance of driving the net. Even though he often gives up a lot of size to SHL forwards, he still battles hard in front of his net, and along the boards, and wins more than his fair share.

Olsson lacks some patience in the offensive zone-despite being poised and smart without the puck in the attacking zone, he gets tunnel vision with the puck on his stick. He looks to move the puck quickly with short passes, dump-ins, and especially shots, but would do much better to take the time to survey his options and make higher-percentage plays, rather than go for the safe option every time. The same can be said sometimes when making breakout passes-he can be pressured into making the lesser play. In either case, he doesn't hurt his team in any way defensively-he will opt to chip it out of danger, or dump it/shoot it in. This is where the questions about his offense at the next level come in, but these issues can be improved with coaching, IMO. Some say he reminds them of Calvin de Haan, but I think he's a lot like TJ Brodie-he'll be a top-4, two-way guy who gets big minutes and tough match-ups. I used to think he was vanilla, but there's tons to like here. 2nd rounder.