DENVER – Freshman Gustav Olofsson had plenty of reasons to feel nervous last weekend when the Colorado College defenseman played a series at St. Cloud State.
Not only was Sweden's world junior contingent on hand scouting the Wild's 2013 second-round pick, Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher was also inconspicuously in the stands.
"I heard a word about it, but you've got to always be on your game," Olofsson said. "You never know who's in the stands. It puts a little more pressure on you, but you've just got to take it as any other game and prepare the same way."
On the Friday night when Fletcher was in attendance, Olofsson was one of the Tigers' best players during the struggling team's 2-2 tie with the Huskies. He made an exceptional play to assist on a power-play goal, was smooth with the puck and showed off his excellent skating.
Olofsson, who turns 19 on Sunday, has a terrific chance to play for Sweden when the country will be hosts of the World Junior Championships from Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Malmo.
"I think it would great for his development," assistant GM Brent Flahr said. "He looks like an elite skater to me with very good puck poise and good natural instincts for the game. He's come a long way in just a year, basically going from midget hockey to a strong second half in the USHL last year [with Green Bay] to pretty good success already as a college player.
"That's put him right in line to make the world junior team."
Olofsson might not be the only Wild draft pick at the world juniors. On Monday, it's expected that rookie defenseman Matt Dumba will be among the names invited to Canada's selection camp later this month. He's a shoo-in to make the team and Fletcher says he is strongly considering loaning Dumba to Team Canada to play in the tournament.
