He’s the other centre the Maple Leafs signed this offseason. Not the one who hails from nearby Mississauga, but instead Kusmark, a tiny speck of a town in northern Sweden with a population of around 400.



Par Lindholm, a 26-year-old pegged for Toronto’s fourth line centre spot next season, grew up on the family dairy farm. When he wasn’t playing hockey, he would occasionally help his father mind the cows and such.



Nearby Skelleftea — a Swedish Hockey League city of about 30,000 people located 20 minutes from Kusmark — was where Lindholm spent most of his professional career.



It’s why his decision to join the Leafs over a huge pool of interested NHL teams — there were as many as 18, according to his agent — was curious to those who know Lindholm well. Toronto isn’t just a big change. It was maybe the biggest possible change for the so-called “farmer boy,” as his long-time coach in Sweden called...