When Rasmus Dahlin put pen to paper on his first NHL contract, the reverberations carried to Gothenburg and Lidkoping in his native Sweden.
The No. 1 overall pick signing with the Buffalo Sabres earned Sweden more than $250,000 to put back into development.
“It’s unreal,” Dahlin said. “We need all the money we can get.”
Last year alone, the NHL paid more than $35 million in transfer fees as teams signed European players. There are agreements in place with all the major hockey-producing countries except Russia and Switzerland that allow the free flow of players to the best league in the world.