Ducks Have High Hopes For Norwegian `Shampoo'

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Espen Knutsen sat in the kitchen at his family's home in Oslo, Norway. His father, a hairdresser nicknamed "Soap," got out the scissors.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

To the floor fell the famous long blond locks of the star hockey player known throughout Scandinavia as "Shampoo."

"I just feel it was time for it," Knutsen said last week after an informal Mighty Ducks scrimmage at Disney ICE.

Knutsen said goodbye to his signature hair two weeks before leaving Norway at the end of August for his first NHL training camp. He's willing to do whatever it takes to "fit in." In Anaheim, he no longer is a proven star and a "cult hero," but rather a rookie fighting for a job.

Most of the Ducks know little of Knutsen's stardom abroad. He is so big in his homeland that a Norwegian TV station sent a crew to follow him around for a week.

But a fellow Duck, Finland's Teemu Selanne, knows of Knutsen.

"I know Shampoo very well," Selanne said. "How good a player he is. How much talent he has. The only question for me is how much time he needs to get used to playing in NHL. Very different.

"Everything is new. New culture. New organization. New food. Smaller rinks. Faster game. More hitting."

And that's not all. Knutsen has the added burden and incentive of trying to make history. Only two other Norwegians have made it to the NHL. No Norwegian has made it big.

The late Bjorne Skaare broke the Norwegian barrier in the

1978-79 season for the Detroit Red Wings. But his NHL career lasted one game. Several years later, he died in a car accident.

Defenseman Anders Myrvold was the second Norwegian to make the NHL. He has played 13 games so far: four for the Colorado Avalanche in the 1995-96 season and nine last season for the Boston Bruins.

For Knutsen, the butterflies began dancing in his stomach before the blond locks fell to the floor.

"Sure. You're moving on the other side of the world, and the whole nation of 4 1/2 million people is hoping you succeed," he said. "That's big pressure."

While hockey is big in Sweden and Finland, it's been the poor man's sport in Norway. The more affluent gravitate toward skiing and soccer. Bjorne Daehli, Olympic and world-champion cross-country skier, is the kids' big idol. Knutsen hopes he will make kids want to play hockey.

"It's really important for me," said Knutsen, who learned English in school and by watching TV. "Every young player in Norway can see if you practice hard you can get a chance in the NHL."

At age 25, Knutsen believes he's ready to make the jump.

The Ducks think so, too. They are gambling $600,000 that he will. If he doesn't, he will be an expensive minor-leaguer. They signed him for one year with a one-year option.

"We're hoping he's ready," David McNab, Ducks assistant general manager, said. "He's been as good a player in Europe as there has been the last couple of years."

Knutsen also is just the type of player the Ducks have coveted but never had: a pure playmaking center. They'd love to see him anchor a second scoring line, to take the pressure off the Selanne-Steve Rucchin-Paul Kariya line.

"His forte is his playmaking," McNab said. "If he's going to make it in the NHL, it's as a big point-producing offensive star, not as a checking center."

Knutsen has starred in the weak Norwegian leagues, where Norwegian TV reporter Einar Lindhjem said he was "two levels above everyone else."

Knutsen had an opportunity to go to the training camp of the Hartford Whalers, who drafted him in the ninth round (204th overall) in the 1990 draft. But Knutsen decided not to go because he didn't believe then that he was good enough.

"I think I was too young, just 19 or 20," Knutsen said. "I decide to move to Sweden and play there and hopefully get better."

In the more elite Swedish league, Knutsen starred for Djurgarden for the past three seasons. Despite missing 11 games last season with a finger injury, Knutsen finished second in the league in scoring with 49 points in 39 games. He was only two points behind the league leader, Juha Riihijarvi of Malmo.

Knutsen is so popular he's done commercials for BMW, a clothes company and, of course, a shampoo company, Wella. He got the nickname "Shampoo" about 15 years ago from a teammate because of his long hair. The nickname, which sounds almost the same in Norwegian, has stuck.

Charisma aside, the Ducks like what he can do with a hockey stick. They traded right wing Kevin Brown (originally a third-round draft pick of the Kings) to Hartford on Oct. 1, 1996, for his rights.

By this time, Knutsen thought his chance of making the NHL was over and signed a lucrative five-year deal with his Swedish team for about $300,000 a year.

"I was prepared to play there for a long time," Knutsen said.

But along came Anaheim's European scout, Thommie Bergman (the first European-trained player to compete in the NHL, in 1972 for Detroit). Bergman told Knutsen the Ducks wanted to give him a chance.

Bergman thinks Knutsen already has taken the hardest step, going from the Norwegian to the Swedish league. "About 100 players from Sweden have played in the NHL. But he's almost the only one who has gone from Norway to Sweden. He's certainly the only one from Norway who has been able to make a big impact in Sweden."

Knutsen was able to get out of his Swedish contract because of an agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation that allows NHL contracts to supersede contracts of all other leagues, McNab said. But Knutsen may be taken to court by his Swedish team over a personal contract. "My lawyers are handling it," Knutsen said.

At 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Knutsen is small by NHL standards. Kariya also had the "small" label.

"We don't see his size as being a problem," McNab said. "He's got big legs. And no matter what level you're at, if you lead your league in scoring, you will have your share of being hooked and slashed. It's not as physical in Sweden as North America, but if you lead the league in scoring, you will be the target of a lot of attempted intimidation."

Knutsen already has gotten some advice about the tougher travel, smaller rinks and more physical play of the NHL from two Swedes playing in the NHL: Mats Sundin of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Michael Nylander, who is on the Calgary Flames roster.

"After practice they come over and tell me I have to be smart on the rink and quick," Knutsen said. "The rinks are smaller and the players are bigger, so you don't have that room you have in Europe."

Swede Tomas Sandstrom, who signed with the Ducks as a free agent in the offseason, told Knutsen to simply "keep his head up."

While it is easier now for non-North Americans to "fit in" in the NHL, Selanne said that there is still some prejudice to overcome.

"Every European has to come here and earn respect," he said. "You're still a foreigner that is trying to steal other players' jobs. You have to earn the respect by showing you deserve to be here and by showing that you care. I came here, and I was so hungry to prove I could do it."

No player made the adjustment from European hockey to the NHL better than Selanne.

"Seventy-six goals," said Knutsen, in reference to Selanne's record as an NHL rookie at age 22. "I know."

McNab said that the Ducks are hoping Knutsen will be able to step right in and make the team because of his age and experience, which includes playing for his country in the World Championships.

"Obviously, we're hoping he will do for us what (Czech Republic defenseman Robert) Svehla did for Florida," McNab said. "Make a huge impact from Day 1."

But so far the only NHL games Knutsen has seen in person were in Buffalo, when he was 12 and visiting with a school team. That's when he became a big fan of Wayne Gretzky. The rest of his NHL experience has come from watching TV.

He has spent the past two weeks trying to acclimate himself to California. "It is so big. In Oslo, just 500,000 people and it's the biggest town in Norway," he said.

The only thing Knutsen knew about the state is also from what he had seen on TV and in the movies. "I knew about Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the `Fresh Prince of Bel Air.' That's my favorite."

Knutsen already has visited Bel Air "like a tourist." He's been awed by the huge shopping centers ("I feel like a little boy standing there. Wow.") and the cheap prices. Yes, cheap.

"Clothes, cars, gas, everything like half price. That's good," he said. "Big Mac like $3 1/2, $4 in Norway."

But so far Knutsen has not been in awe the level of the hockey from the informal scrimmages.

"No hitting," he said.

But he knows that will change once training camp starts for real. "I think about the difference. I think about the pressure. But not on the ice. I just have to try to do my best."

He said he realizes he might have to spend some time in the minors to get adjusted to North American hockey, with the rinks 15 feet narrower than the Olympic-sized rinks he's used to. But he hopes he doesn't have to.

If he does make the Ducks and plays well and "fits in," he just might let the blond locks grow long again.

"Maybe," Shampoo said with a laugh. "But right now, (shorter hair) is not so bad."