HAPPY BIRTHDAY! BORJE SALMING'S 70th on April 17 - How good was he?

[Rondo Hatton]

I was proud of a joke I made up when I was seven:
Q: What did the All-Star coach say to the Leafs coach?
A: Can I Borje Salming?

hahahah....still makes me laugh

You know Salming will never borje

 

[meefer]

He and Inge Hammerstrom were the first two Swedes to wear the Leaf jersey. It wasn't an easy time for them, anger throughout the league at foreigners stealing jobs from good Canadian kids. They even ruffled some feathers in the Gardens and it took some time before there was full acceptance by their teammates. The rest of the league wasn't so kind, especially the Flyers. The amount of abuse they took was too much for Hammer, Ballard not helping with his withering comment about going into a corner with a pocket full of eggs and not breaking one, and his time in the NHL was brief, though he was a talented player in his own way. Borje was different. Bashed, banged, slashed, punched, cross checked nightly, he never backed down. Tough as nails, he took what was thrown his way and spit it back. A wonderfully talented player, he and Ian Turnbull were the foundation of our defense for years. Should he have won a Norris? Maybe, but going up against Orr, Park, Robinson, Potvin, that was a tough ask considering the team was be run into the ground by Harold, the supporting cast just wasn't there to help showcase Salming's talents. His sprawling, sweeping, stick checks were legend.

 

[al secord]

Borje? Damn near killed ya!

...oh ya, Happy Birthday, King!

 

[therealkoho]

Happy 70th King, one of the finest people ever to wear the B&W

 

[justashadowof]

He's not easy to describe him through modern players.
He had some of the showy edge work we used to see from Jake Gardiner. His ice time in his younger years must have been huge. He could skate effortlessly in large arcing circles holding the puck, slowing down the game, staying on the ice for long shifts.
Maybe he was a little like Tomas Kaberle. He was an excellent passer. He had excellent in-game anticipation (I can recall many breakaways believe it or not). He had no point shot to speak of, he was better off using a wrist shot. I was very shifty and could evade checking attempts on the rush.
He played loose bodied like a Dermott or Marincin does. He was highly competitive and more than a little bit dirty with the stick or a sneaky grab. He could hit hard but seldom did. He was very brave in taking punishment from forecheckers and blocking shots like Dmitri Yuskevich.
He was a chronic diver, sometimes ridiculously jumping over his opponent's stick in an attempt to draw a penalty. As he aged he started to rely too much on the pokecheck and sprawling along the ice to block shots and passes. Met with this method of defending, a new generation of Gretzky's and Lemieux's would simply use a flip pass over a sprawling defender. In the mid-80's, when questioned about how good of a defenseman Salming was in his mid 30's, Scotty Bowman answered he'd be a much better defenseman if he would stay off his ass.

Summary: superstar/allstar defender in his 20's who became a bit of parody of his former self forced to do too much heavy lifting on bad Leafs' teams in the 1980's.

 

[MattySnipes]

Easily best Leafs D ever when you put it all together.

That coffee dude was good too, but I love me some Borje. Happy 70th to him in the coming week+

Thanks for being ultimate team player.

 

[93LEAFS]

Just read The Game by Ken Dryden and the excerpt on Borje Salming.

 

[justloveleafs]

Salming was amazing. A true number one D in every sense. One story, my now wife then girlfriend had an office in the same building as Salming's wife's office. He would run 5 miles from their house to where she worked to have lunch with her, then run home. Even on game days.

Wow, never heard that one before. And I don't doubt it. Great anecdote. The guy he came over with, Inge Hammarstrom, probably would have been an above average NHLer in today's NHL, but he couldn't hack the violence.

I remember meeting a guy from era who played in the NHL, who was trying to get me to buy customized t shirts. I have a soft spot for tees, so we did business.

He told me came up against Paul Holmgren once, and that Holmgren tried to spear his eye out. Thankfully for the guy, Holmgren missed by less than an inch.

It was crazy bad back then. Tons of talented guys walked away from the game they loved. We shall never know them.

 

[Rondo Hatton]

He's not easy to describe him through modern players.
He had some of the showy edge work we used to see from Jake Gardiner. His ice time in his younger years must have been huge. He could skate effortlessly in large arcing circles holding the puck, slowing down the game, staying on the ice for long shifts.
Maybe he was a little like Tomas Kaberle. He was an excellent passer. He had excellent in-game anticipation (I can recall many breakaways believe it or not). He had no point shot to speak of, he was better off using a wrist shot. I was very shifty and could evade checking attempts on the rush.
He played loose bodied like a Dermott or Marincin does. He was highly competitive and more than a little bit dirty with the stick or a sneaky grab. He could hit hard but seldom did. He was very brave in taking punishment from forecheckers and blocking shots like Dmitri Yuskevich.
He was a chronic diver, sometimes ridiculously jumping over his opponent's stick in an attempt to draw a penalty. As he aged he started to rely too much on the pokecheck and sprawling along the ice to block shots and passes. Met with this method of defending, a new generation of Gretzky's and Lemieux's would simply use a flip pass over a sprawling defender. In the mid-80's, when questioned about how good of a defenseman Salming was in his mid 30's, Scotty Bowman answered he'd be a much better defenseman if he would stay off his ass.

Summary: superstar/allstar defender in his 20's who became a bit of parody of his former self forced to do too much heavy lifting on bad Leafs' teams in the 1980's.

Those are the 2 that come to mind for me. The calm/no panic of Kaberle and the personal toughness of Yuskevich. Salming and Yuskevich were these quiet defensive stalwarts. Loved them both

 

[justloveleafs]

Those are the 2 that come to mind for me. The calm/no panic of Kaberle and the personal toughness of Yuskevich. Salming and Yuskevich were these quiet defensive stalwarts. Loved them both

I loved Kaberle as well as those two guys. The dirtiest, punk I have ever heard, Cam Jansens effectively ruined Kabby. And is Jansens ever proud of himself. Heard him on chicklets, horrible guy. Most NHLers, are great guys, not that little thug.

 

[Da Cool Rula]

It's hard to explain how good Salming was. You could look up the Norris trophy voting numbers I guess, he was a top 5 Dman in the NHL for a number of years along with the big 3 in MTL. The numbers don't tell the full story either, he was tough as nails (though not a "tough guy" if that makes sense), a consummate team player, a super smart player and perhaps the most humble Maple Leaf ever, basically the perfect teammate.

I have followed sports in Toronto for over 50 years and Salming is my all time favourite. Kyle Lowry is second and then third is probably Sittler. They just don't make 'em like that anymore.

This

Well described.

I remember Seeing a picture of Salming with his shirt off after the season. His chest was black & blue, mostly from blocking shots.

The stick clip to the eye during the 78 Isles series & the subsequent Turnbull breakout.

The Mel Bridgman attack and those rough Phily series'. Yet never slowed him. Warrior. Strong as a bull.

Harold Ballard: I wouldn't trade him for God.

So many stories......

Funny sometimes I see Borjes skating like Usain Bolts running. So graceful.

 

[Da Cool Rula]

I loved Kaberle as well as those two guys. The dirtiest, punk I have ever heard, Cam Jansens effectively ruined Kabby. And is Jansens ever proud of himself. Heard him on chicklets, horrible guy. Most NHLers, are great guys, not that little thug.

See Jansen would never had of deterred Salming. He played through worse. Heck he could've just flicked Jansen like a fly. So much stronger.

 

[Da Cool Rula]

Salming is amazing and underappreciated, but this is irrelevant as the eras are totally different. McDavid has never reach 120 points. I would imagine if he played in the 70's and 80's he would far eclipse that every season. There was just more goals scored then.

Yeah we can't say for sure how some of these stars like CMcD, Gretzky would've made out in the 70s. It was just sooooo different toughness wise. Broad street Bullies would've beaten them down.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Just read The Game by Ken Dryden and the excerpt on Borje Salming.

Cliff notes on what Ken had to say about him?

Those are the 2 that come to mind for me. The calm/no panic of Kaberle and the personal toughness of Yuskevich. Salming and Yuskevich were these quiet defensive stalwarts. Loved them both

I was earlier trying to think of a comparable for Salming, couldn't think of anyone. But put together the best attributes of those two, that comes pretty close I guess. Though IIRC Yuskevich often went out his way to hit people whereas Salming didn't really do that. Other than that though ...

 

[Gary Nylund]

Harold Ballard: I wouldn't trade him for God.

So many stories......

Funny sometimes I see Borjes skating like Usain Bolts running. So graceful.

Great quote! I'd say that makes up for all the dumb things Ballard ever said but ... no quote could ever be that good. So I'll just say that whenever I think of Ballard, I'll try to remember that quote instead of all the other spewage (and OMG, was there ever a ton of spewage).

 

[Da Cool Rula]

He and Inge Hammerstrom were the first two Swedes to wear the Leaf jersey. It wasn't an easy time for them, anger throughout the league at foreigners stealing jobs from good Canadian kids. They even ruffled some feathers in the Gardens and it took some time before there was full acceptance by their teammates. The rest of the league wasn't so kind, especially the Flyers. The amount of abuse they took was too much for Hammer, Ballard not helping with his withering comment about going into a corner with a pocket full of eggs and not breaking one, and his time in the NHL was brief, though he was a talented player in his own way. Borje was different. Bashed, banged, slashed, punched, cross checked nightly, he never backed down. Tough as nails, he took what was thrown his way and spit it back. A wonderfully talented player, he and Ian Turnbull were the foundation of our defense for years. Should he have won a Norris? Maybe, but going up against Orr, Park, Robinson, Potvin, that was a tough ask considering the team was be run into the ground by Harold, the supporting cast just wasn't there to help showcase Salming's talents. His sprawling, sweeping, stick checks were legend.

Well expressed post. So true

 

[Da Cool Rula]

Great quote! I'd say that makes up for all the dumb things Ballard ever said but ... no quote could ever be that good. So I'll just say that whenever I think of Ballard, I'll try to remember that quote instead of all the other spewage (and OMG, was there ever a ton of spewage).

Oh yeah that was a horrible time indeed. And when Harold brought Punch back it got even uglier.
.

 

[93LEAFS]

Cliff notes on what Ken had to say about him?



I was earlier trying to think of a comparable for Salming, couldn't think of anyone. But put together the best attributes of those two, that comes pretty close I guess. Though IIRC Yuskevich often went out his way to hit people whereas Salming didn't really do that. Other than that though ...

I'd have to dig it up. But it was generally very high-praise. If you haven't read the book, I'd highly recommended it. Not only is it probably the best book ever written about hockey/NHL, it is up there with the best sports books ever written.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Oh yeah that was a horrible time indeed. And when Harold brought Punch back it got even uglier.
.

Oh hell, the first things that come to mind with Punch are bringing back Carl Brewer and the time he decided to start the game with 5 Dmen on the ice.

People who think OTT has bad ownership should read up on what it meant to be a Leaf fan with Ballard at the helm. Though I guess it's not possible to understand what that was like unless you lived through it.

It's hard enough to explain in words what Salming was like. Ballard though, geez I'm not sure I'd even know where to begin.

 

[nsleaf]

I'll never forget watching this happen to him,

 

[Da Cool Rula]

I love these threads so much. While those were tough years to be a Lesf fan some of the stories memories were amazing. Society and athletes were sooooo different back then. One day if it hasn't been started yet I'd love to start a thread on other memories of the Ballard days. Seems like there are more than a few here who lived it like myself. What an experience!
We endured alot and a cup would have incredible meaning to us.

 

[Da Cool Rula]

I'll never forget watching this happen to him,

Oh wow thats right!!! That was a huge memory.

 

[Leafsfan74]

I didn't see him in his prime. As a young fan though, it was evident how revered he was with the fan base. They loved him and Ballard wouldn't trade him. He redefined the view of European players as he was tough as nails. Still blocking shots late in his career.

 

[Da Cool Rula]

Wow, never heard that one before. And I don't doubt it. Great anecdote. The guy he came over with, Inge Hammarstrom, probably would have been an above average NHLer in today's NHL, but he couldn't hack the violence.

I remember meeting a guy from era who played in the NHL, who was trying to get me to buy customized t shirts. I have a soft spot for tees, so we did business.

He told me came up against Paul Holmgren once, and that Holmgren tried to spear his eye out. Thankfully for the guy, Holmgren missed by less than an inch.

It was crazy bad back then. Tons of talented guys walked away from the game they loved. We shall never know them.

Ugh those dirt bag Flyers!!!! Who can forget those years and having to play in the spectrum. My stomach was in knots each time we played there in the playoffs(ofcourse they was the sign man too with his famous quotes).

The dirty play back then also made me think of a time when Steve"Mental Case"Durbano skated from one end of the ice full steam and speared the other teams best player(cant remember his name off hand) in the stomach. It was brutal.

 

[rumman]

I'd say he's neck and neck with Horton as best Leaf D man ever............