Olofsson is a solid, two-way defender with good upside. He moves well both north-south but also east-west, while pivoting and fluid transitions. He’s a graceful skater who looks effortless moving around with deceptive first-step quickness. He possesses impressive decision-making and execution under duress; finds a way to make a play despite having no time or space. A crisp passer, Olofsson is assertive in his read and puts the puck onto the tape. He can get caught up in the play, and can struggle to recover because he lacks another gear in his skating. He’s very sound positionally and reacts to plays instinctively, a bene t of his good hockey sense. He does not hesitate to drop to a knee to block shots or passes, plays with an active stick and will body up opponents but isn’t a physical presence that puck carriers are forced to think about while on the ice. While he makes a good first pass, he is fairly average in terms of puck moving ability. He will, however, skate it up if that is what the defense will give him, but he generally won’t push the pace. He’s fairly vanilla in terms of offensive creativity despite his poise and mobility. He does distribute nicely on the power play but doesn’t pass guys open or draw in defenders. For the most part, his value is that of being a reliable minute-eating type of player — someone you’d pair alongside more of a riverboat gambler/puck rusher as Olofsson would take care of home but also step up when the opportunity is there. (May 2013)