Near the end of May, a tired, happy, and hungry Mattias Ohlund, the sudden world traveler, had finally set down in his native Sweden.

The longest hockey season of his young life was finally over. He had eased the pain of the Vancouver Canucks missing the playoffs by helping Sweden claim a World Championship and he had three months to get reacquainted with family, friends and some favorite Swedish food.

Oh yeah, he was hungry.

"The first thing I did was, I went to my dad's and had a big dinner with my family," he says. "I had some Swedish food, which you don't have in Vancouver. It's kind of tough to explain what it is. We have special food here. I was without it for eight months. It was a special food."

Not even attempting to explain - it doesn't translate well into English, he says - what the dish is, all Ohlund can say is it's made from potatoes and is specific to the area around his northern hometown of Pitea.

Whatever the case, one thing that was clear in Ohlund's voice was that it was good to be home. "It's been great. It's been a really good summer."

He had a great winter too, some might add.

Of all the troubles the Canucks encountered in their 1997-98 National Hockey League campaign, the shining exception was Ohlund. Three seasons in the waiting, after being drafted 13th overall in the summer of 1994, Ohlund more than lived up to his billing. Just like the scouts rated him, the 6-foot-3 Ohlund showed that he can play physically, skate well and possessed the clever eye of a playmaker.

He finished tied for the lead in points among Canuck defenceman, finishing with seven goals, 23 assists and, despite logging incredible ice time in his 77 games, Ohlund finished a more-than-respectable plus three in the plus-minus rankings.

To cap it off, he garnered attention by being nominated for the NHL rookie of the year honours, becoming the first Canuck to do so since Pavel Bure won the Calder Trophy in 1992. Ohlund was beaten by Boston Bruin Sergei Samsonov but, in the end, none of that mattered. This kid, who turned 22 in September, can play.

"Because it was my first season, I think I had a pretty good season," he says. "I'm pretty happy with my play. Of course, I'm disappointed that we didn't make the playoffs. We didn't have a happy season. We lost a lot. That's one thing I want to change for sure, but just looking at my own play, I think, well, it was my first season and my first time on the smaller rink, so I felt pretty good...I'm looking forward to playing in the NHL for a long time."

So are Canuck fans and coach Mike Keenan. For somebody who doesn't liberally spread compliments around, here's what so-called "Iron Mike" has to say about Ohlund: "I think he's going to be a Norris Trophy candidate."

Keenan has coached a number of players who were named NHL top defenceman such as Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch and the most recent winner Chris Pronger, so he'd know a bit about the subject. "For so many years, it was Leetch, Chelios and (Ray) Bourque. As we move and advance in time, the new up-and-coming stars, the new wave, is (Niklas) Lidstrom in Detroit, Pronger and Mattias. I think (Ohlund) is going to be in that top group of qualified defenceman to be in the Norris Trophy candidate position," says Keenan.

"He reminds me a little bit of the Chris Pronger-type player, even though he may be on a little more accelerated program. The first thing that comes to mind is their talent base and their ability to handle themselves on the ice. I think they both read the play extremely well. Mattias is extremely mature and very professional in his approach. They have the ability way beyond their years to play the game at that level."

Keenan expects Ohlund to shoulder an even heavier load this season and wants him to gain more confidence to carry the play in the offensive zone. He's sure Ohlund can handle the added responsibilities.

One incident that emphasized for Keenan the resilience of Ohlund was the way he bounced back after being hit on the receiving end of Mike Peca's flying elbow to the head during a game against the Buffalo Sabres. "That was a very vicious blow and he sustained it pretty well, shook it off pretty well," says Keenan.

So much for Don Cherry's theories on soft Europeans.

As much as Ohlund missed being away from home for the longest stretch of his life last year, he says he learned a lot about himself. He didn't get homesick. He got to travel the continent, calling New York his favorite city next to Vancouver and he learned to become independant. "You have to when you move away. I was staying my myself for four years, but it's different when you move to another country, so far away from home. I learned to live by myself and take care of myself. For sure, I'm really happy with my first year, both off the ice and on the ice."

Of all the memories he had from his rookie season, Ohlund's best is the first regular season game at General Motors Place. It was against the Toronto Maple Leads, a game in which he earned his first NHL goal and assist in a 2-2 tie. The puck he scored with now hangs on a wall in his old bedroom at his father's house.

Occasionally, Ohlund will glance at the puck, the sight of it drawing him back thousands of miles to Vancouver, the NHL and the new season. It was nice to be back home in Sweden with family and friends, but on the west coast of North America, he has an outstanding career as one of the NHL's brightest young stars. Individually, the future is bright and the glare would get that much stronger with a return by the Canucks to post-season play.

"It's really fun to be back here (Sweden), but I'm really looking forward to going back to Vancouver and starting the new season.

"I can improve on everything - I don't want to say just one thing. I just want to be a better hockey player. The main thing is to be part of bringing the Stanley Cup to Vancouver one day and that's my biggest goal right now."

Relaxed, fit and full of his favorite food, it now appears that Mattias Ohlund is hungry for more. Source