Fredrik Olausson: Played Key Role in Detroit’s 2002 Stanley Cup Run

On November 16 & 17, the Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the 2023 NHL Global Series. To commemorate this historic event and pay tribute to Detroit's Swedish connection, each week leading up to the Global Series, we will feature a Swedish Red Wings story in our series, 'How Swede It Is' presented by JP Wiser's. Each story is a testament to the dedication and resolve between the players and the Red Wings to build upon and maintain a tradition of excellence between Swedish hockey and the Red Wings. We continue our series with defenseman Fredrik Olausson

Most hockey fans know the 2001-02 edition of the Detroit Red Wings squad that was stacked with Hall-of-Fame talent.

However, what many fans may not know are a couple moves involving veteran defenseman Fredrik Olausson, which had a significant impact on Detroit winning their 10th Stanley Cup in 2002.

After the 1999-2000 season, Olausson, a veteran of 931 regular season games and 44 playoff games over 14 years for the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins, left the NHL and played the 2000-01 season for Bern SC in Switzerland’s top professional league.

“I went to Switzerland for a year and I was playing a tournament with the Swedish national team in February and Jim Nill was at those games,” Olausson said. “I played fairly well at the tournament and afterwards, I talked to Jim and he said, ‘Would you like to come over and play for the Red Wings? Because we’re going for the Cup next year.’

“It wasn’t really a question in my mind. In chasing that dream of winning a Stanley Cup for so many years before that, I was never really close to winning a Cup. So for me, when Jim asked me and later when Ken Holland called, there wasn’t any doubt in my mind. I would have played for free.”

Olausson did receive a call from Nill inquiring if he had any interest in returning to the NHL the following year, but it was actually Holland who saw him play in February’s Swedish Games tournament.

“We’re in the window of ’97 to 2004, kind of our prime window. I remember going to the February Sweden Games, it’s a men’s tournament — Russians, Swedes, Czechs, Finns,” Holland said. “I’m watching Sweden and they’ve got this Fredrik Olausson and he’d been a wonderful player with Winnipeg for a long, long period of time. I called Jimmy Nill one day from the tournament and I said, ‘Jimmy, I know you played with Fredrik Olausson in Winnipeg,’ and he sang his praises. I said, ‘Jimmy, let’s do some research,’ because he had supposedly ended his NHL career and was going back home to Sweden to finish his career.”

Holland reached out to Nicklas Lidstrom about Olausson.

“I remember Freddie from him playing in Winnipeg and later on, I believe he was in Edmonton for a while, too,” Lidstrom said. “Ken Holland asked me about him the year before, what I thought of him as a player, because Kenny was thinking about bringing him over the following year (2001-02), the year we won it. I told Kenny, he’s a great player, great passer, he thinks the game right, he’s a very smart player. I just had some great attributes to say about Freddie because I thought he was a very strong and very solid player.”

Based heavily on the assessments of Nill and Lidstrom, Olausson was signed as a free agent on May 24, 2001. And for the first half of the season, he didn’t look out of place in Detroit’s high-powered lineup.

“Look at that lineup, Hall-of-Fame lineup, basically almost the whole team. So it was very exciting, it was an absolute privilege to be in the same room,” Olausson said. “It wasn’t easy all the way. I was out of the lineup for a while. I wasn’t happy with that. But I didn’t play well enough at a certain point.

“It was tough sometimes, but you have to see the bigger picture in everything, and I finally got back into the lineup again and was able to contribute a little bit to the team. That was just a great feeling.”

When the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs began, Olausson was a healthy scratch. Detroit, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, hosted the Vancouver Canucks in the first round and proceeded to drop Game 1, 4-3, in overtime and followed it up with a 5-2 loss in Game 2.  

Trailing two games to none with the next two games in Vancouver, the Red Wings needed a shakeup.

“We fly overnight right after the game to Vancouver. And the next day, we had a late afternoon practice, all the coaches, all the managers, all the trainers were in this one locker room and we’re debating what are we going to do,” Dave Lewis said. “After about 45 minutes, Scotty (Bowman) went out of the room. He was sort of noncommittal anyway, listening to everybody. He comes back in about five minutes, and said, ‘Yep, I got it. I talked to Nick and Nick wants to play with Freddie Olausson so it’s all set, no worries. Uwe Krupp is out, Freddie Olausson’s in and we’ll be good to go.

“So we’re having practice and everyone’s on the ice. I go up to Nick and I said, ‘Nick, did you talk to Scotty?’ He said, ‘Oh, I haven’t talked to him today. I can’t even remember if I talked to him yesterday.’ Scotty just made that decision based on the past season’s performance with Nick and changed the chemistry.”

Inserting Olausson into the lineup and pairing him with Lidstrom worked. The tandem became a dominant pair and it paid off in a big way during the Western Conference Final.

After splitting the first two games of the series against the Colorado Avalanche in Detroit, the Red Wings and Avalanche were headed to Denver for Games 3 and 4. In Game 3, the contest was deadlocked, 1-1, after regulation.

Sometimes overtime sets the stage for the unlikeliest of heroes. For Olausson the moment came at 12:44 of OT when his slapshot beat Patrick Roy, giving Detroit a 2-1 victory and a 2-1 series lead.

“I think I blacked out after that goal. I don’t think I remember anything else of the game. It was a really tight game,” Olausson said. “We felt that we can’t really afford to lose this game. I don’t know if they were in the middle of a change and I came off the bench and Stevie (Yzerman) had the puck on the blue line, and I yelled for it and I just took the shot. I don’t know if it deflected in. But it was in the back of the net. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier on an ice surface in my life.

“Seeing the puck go in, it was probably the biggest goal I’ve scored in my career. I can’t really describe it. Relief and joy at the same time.”

‘If’ is a word often used by teams on the losing end.

For the 2002 Stanley Cup-champion Red Wings, ‘if’ is a word which just makes you wonder. If Olausson doesn’t return to Europe, if Holland doesn’t attend the Swedish Games, if Nill and Olausson weren’t teammates, if Lidstrom had no opinion on Olausson, if Vancouver doesn’t beat the Red Wings in the first two games of their playoff series, would Olausson ever have joined the Red Wings, would he have ever been put back into lineup, does Detroit win the 2002 Stanley Cup?

But guess what? It all happened and led to Olausson finally achieving his dream of winning the Stanley Cup and scoring a pivotal goal in overtime.

“Lifting that Stanley Cup was the highlight of my career. I’m eternally grateful to the Ilitch family, Ken and Jim, everybody behind the Red Wings organization. They gave me a chance to win.” Olausson said. “Being able to meet class-act people like Nick (Lidstrom), Steve (Yzerman), (Brendan) Shanahan, all the guys there. To play with them and become friends with them.

“I just say thank you for everything.”

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