Christer Lennart Olsson (born July 24, 1970) is a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
former professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
defenceman
Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...
. He is the current
head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
of
VIK Västerås HK Vik (Old Norse: vík) means wick or bay in Norwegian and Swedish (''vig'' in Danish), and it may refer to the following:
Places Iceland
*Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland
Iran
* Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran
Norway
* ...
in the
HockeyAllsvenskan
HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...
(Allsv). Olsson played briefly in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) with the
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...
and
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...
.
Playing career
Olsson was drafted by the Blues in the 11th round, 275th overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He played in Sweden for 2 years before splitting the 1995–1996 season with the
Worcester Ice Cats
The Worcester IceCats were a US ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Worcester Centrum. In 2005 the team was renamed the Peoria Rivermen and moved to Peoria, Illinois.
History
The IceCa ...
of the
AHL and making his debut with the Blues. The following season he was part of an infamous and extremely lopsided trade when he was traded by the Blues to the Ottawa Senators for
Pavol Demitra
Pavol Demitra (; 29 November 1974 – 7 September 2011) was a Slovak professional ice hockey player. He played nineteen seasons of professional hockey, for teams in the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League (CSL), National Hockey League (NHL), S ...
. Demitra eventually became a scoring powerhouse with the Blues for a number of years while Olsson decided to go back to Sweden to play hockey after his short stint with the Senators that year.
Olsson played 7 more years in Sweden and one in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
before retiring after the 2004–05 season.
Coaching career
Since his retirement after the 2004–2005 season, Olsson directly coached
Leksands IF
Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The c ...
. He has mostly been coaching Leksand's representation team, but he has also coached Leksand's
under-20 team in two seasons. On April 20, 2011, Olsson was named the
head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
of Leksand's representation team in the
HockeyAllsvenskan
HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...
.
Olsson was sacked as Leksands IF coach in 2011 and then joined
EC KAC of the Austrian Hockey League. He coached parts of two seasons with KAC before he was fired and then named coach of rival EBEL club,
HC TWK Innsbruck
HC Tiroler Wasserkraft Innsbruck is an Austrian professional ice hockey team in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). They play their home games at OlympiaWorld Innsbruck complex in Innsbruck.
History
The club was founded in 1994 as HC Innsbruck ...
.
After two seasons in Innsbruck, Olsson opted to return to his native Sweden, accepting a head coaching role with VIK Västerås HK of the Allsvenskan for the
2016–17 season.
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Christer
1970 births
Living people
Brynäs IF players
Frölunda HC players
Ice hockey coaches
Leksands IF players
Ottawa Senators players
People from Arboga Municipality
St. Louis Blues draft picks
St. Louis Blues players
Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Austria
Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Swedish ice hockey defencemen
Worcester IceCats players
Sportspeople from Västmanland County