Ducks Can Count on Olen Zellweger

A two-time World Juniors gold medalist, a two-time WHL Defenseman of the Year and an AHL All-Star. Not a bad resumé for Olen Zellweger, who’s played just under 40 NHL games.

After splitting time between the NHL and AHL last season, Zellweger is now a full-time NHLer, taking full advantage of his opportunity.

Originally, Zellweger wasn’t even supposed to be in the Ducks lineup for opening night. But Zellweger was inserted into the lineup after Jackson LaCombe was a late scratch with the flu. Zellweger was a healthy scratch the following night in Las Vegas, but he has been a fixture in the lineup ever since.

“I think I played just the two preseason games so I didn’t really know what was going to happen,” Zellweger said. “Someone couldn't play in the first game (so) I got in (and) I just tried to build off where I ended last year. I just want to keep growing and get better every game.”

Head coach Greg Cronin has been impressed with how much Zellweger has grown since making his NHL debut last season. “(Zellweger) walks around like he owns the place now,” Cronin said with a laugh. “He wasn’t doing that a year ago, right? Like, in a nice way, you know?

“He’s one of those players where you watch him (and) compare him to last year and then this year when he started, I think his growth as a player is directly related to his ability to slow the game down mentally,” Cronin said. “A lot of these young guys—it happened to (Tristan) Luneau—try to play a game that was real comfortable in juniors and it's not going to happen here in the NHL with the IQ on the ice, the length, the size and the speed.

“I think (Zellweger’s) figured that out for the most part. He's going to have his moments, but the one thing I love about him is he’s incredibly tenacious. He's a very confident kid. He has a very high standard and his body language reflects that when he has a bad shift or makes a mistake. He's a winner. You just love his mentality. I love his make-up and I love the way he plays.”

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“I think I'm more familiar with some of the forwards (now),” Zellweger said. “Obviously, building chemistry with them is really important to increasing our goal totals. We want to be able to find the guys in the offensive zone, get shots through or (get it to guys for) rebounds or tips and stuff like that, so kind of just building on that chemistry with them.”

Zellweger was paired with veteran and summer acquisition Brian Dumoulin during preseason while Pavel Mintyukov was recovering from his lower-body injury, but Mintyukov slotted in next to Dumoulin once he was healthy.

“He’s been playing great,” Dumoulin said of Zellweger. “I think he's making some really good decisions with the puck, especially in times where maybe a play is not there. He's not forcing it and just kind of making (the right) play, whether it's a chip out or play up the wall. It’s good to see. When he can move his feet and create space, I mean, he's a deceptive, strong skater. I think he's really taken that next step of knowing when to make a play and when not to.”

A pairing with Radko Gudas was short-lived for Zellweger once LaCombe returned to the lineup. The left-handed Zellweger then shifted up to play on his off-side next to Cam Fowler, a pairing that closed out the final month and a half of last season.

“We’ve both been able to work with each other pretty well,” Zellweger said. “I think maybe 10 games (at the end of last season), so some familiarity with each other. I mean, small sample, but it helps going into this year. We’re trying to use our skating, we're trying to communicate on the ice and the bench to each other (about) what we're seeing, how we're feeling and how the game is going.

“I think we're at our best when we're really skating (and) playing with intensity, whether that's going back to get pucks hard or making hard passes and stuff like that. We’re not going to be blowing guys up and stuff like that, but there's those other intangibles on the ice where we can be hard to play against in terms of that intensity.”

Fowler has been a workhorse for the Ducks for the past two seasons. The last time he had eclipsed 1,900 minutes in a single season before 2022-23 was the 2016-17 season. Naturally, Zellweger has seen his ice time increase while playing alongside Fowler.

Even with Fowler out of the lineup last Friday due to an upper-body injury, Zellweger continued to earn more minutes. He had played 23:30 by the end of the game, nearly two more minutes than any other Ducks player.

“I could just play the same record over and over again,” Cronin said after that game. “He plays on his toes every night. He’s fearless. He makes plays. He makes mistakes out of being active, not being passive and measured. We need to get that out of everybody. I didn’t see him in juniors, but I’m sure he played that way in juniors. You’d have to be blind not to notice his enthusiasm, play and aggressiveness. The way he joins the rush, the way he attacks people defensively, his gaps. We’re blessed to have him.”

“I think I had a good summer,” Zellweger said. “I trained a lot and I wanted to be prepared to make the team and make an impact. That’s kind of where the mindset is. I want to bring a lot of value to the team. Wherever I can to help us progress in the right direction and that's getting more wins and dominating with more offensive zone time. Things like that (are) where I'm looking to bring that energy and passion to try to continue to push in the right direction.”

Zellweger has taken over the No. 1 spot on the top power play as the lone defenseman, a role that had been assumed by LaCombe during preseason. He has two power play points—one goal and one assist—since being inserted into the role.

“I think I’m the quarterback on top of the power play,” Zellweger said. “But I think an underrated aspect that needs to be utilized more for me is shooting. I think I can find some lanes and I think the one-timers at the top are pretty dangerous as well. Doing that will open up more opportunities for me to find the flank guys so they have more time to find shots or one-timers and stuff like that.”

The one-timers from the top of the point from Zellweger have been a nice wrinkle to the power play, which had been relying on off-side one-timers from Frank Vatrano or netfront play from Troy Terry and Ryan Strome to help set up offensive chances.

After an 0-for-20 start to the season on the man advantage, the Ducks have scored six power play goals since then. A nearly six-minute-long power play against the Wild that failed to score a goal was the death blow in their 5-2 loss, but there have been encouraging developments. Though the power play did not score against the Blue Jackets, they created good opportunities, with Zellweger ringing the post on one of those chances.

I think guys are starting to have confidence,” Zellweger said. “We started off with brand new units. I don't know if anyone’s really played with each other on the power play before. Some other teams have been working three, or four years (with the) same sort of personnel, but that's no excuse for us. We’ve got to be dialed in and we're all capable of having a high-end power play here, so it's on us to continue to push each other and try to find that extra gear. Every night, there's going to be an opportunity for us to really benefit the team with a strong power play.”

“Analytically, he’s our best defenseman,” Cronin said after a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 22. “Last year, he would force plays, turn pucks over, get overly aggressive and lose people behind him. He’s a consummate hockey player. He’s always watching video, always working out.

“I’ve talked about this—you want to speed up these young kids’ abilities to play a mature game and it’s just reps and exposure to these events. He seems to have started to pick that up. When players figure that out, the game starts to slow down and when it slows down for them, they start being more visible in a good way and that’s the path I think he’s on.”

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