Rasmus Dahlin disses Toronto in recent Swedish interview.

It seems like the reputation of the Toronto hockey market has traveled far and wide across the world.

Fans in Toronto will be well aware of just how insane the scrutiny can be surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and in fact it has gotten so crazy that fans from other markets around the National Hockey League have begun to grow resentful of the overwhelming coverage the Maple Leafs receive. In fact, in Canada especially, there is a good argument to be made that the overwhelming coverage of the Leafs leads to inferior coverage of some of the teams in the other Canadian NHL cities. 

That kind of scrutiny can provide a ton of benefits like access to all kinds of information regarding the team and constant player interviews and analysis regarding the most recent games, but it also comes with a long of negatives as well. Players around the league are acutely aware of the fact that coming to a market like Toronto comes with a tremendous deal of pressure and puts you directly under the microscope while living in that city. As a result it has been difficult for the Maple Leafs at times to attract big name free agents to their market, and it seems like one young NHL star is among those players.

In a recent long form interview conducted in Swedish, former first overall pick in 2018 Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres was hit with a very difficult question for a rookie NHLer to be asked. The interviewer asked Dahlin point blank which hockey team he would like to be traded to should things not work out for him in Buffalo, and although he did not answer the question directly the answer he would give would be rather telling. 

First Dahlin answered by naming the hockey team Frolunda, a pretty funny response when you consider that the team is based in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is perhaps a sign that Dahlin is a little home sick for his native country and probably an indication that he would rather be playing in Europe if the salaries were at all competitive. He then stated the following:

"I want to stay in Buffalo. I'll answer like this: Anything but Toronto."

Seems like young hockey players, or at least one, do not want anything to do with the crazed hockey market in Toronto.

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