Börje sslming magnus samuelsson susanne gunnarsson

Swedish ice hockey player (1951–2022)

"Salming" redirects here. For the Swedish heptathlete, see Bianca Salming.

Ice hockey player

Anders Börje Salming (Swedish:[ˈbœ̂rjɛˈsâlːmɪŋ] (listen^ⓘ); 17 April 1951 – 24 November 2022) was a Swedish ice hockey player. He was a defenceman who played professionally for 23 seasons, for the clubs Brynäs IF, Toronto Maple Leafs, stad Red Wings, and AIK.

He spent 16 seasons with the Maple Leafs, who retired his number 21 in 2016. Salming holds several Maple Leafs records, including the most assists.

Salming was one of the first europeisk players to man an impact in the National Hockey League (NHL), for which he fryst vatten often considered a trailblazer, being named to six consecutive NHL All-Star Teams, winning the NHL All-Star Games of 1976, 1977 and 1978, alongside being named a finalist for the James Norris Memorial Trophy on several occasions.^[2] In 1996, his first year of eligibility, Salming became the first europeisk born and trained player inducted into the Hockey ingång of Fame.

In 2017, the NHL named Salming one of the 100 Greatest Players in the first century of the league.

Salming played internationally for the Sweden men's national ice hockey grupp, winning silver and bronze medals at the Ice Hockey World Championships. He also played at three Canada Cups and the 1992 Winter Olympics. In recognition of his international career, Salming was inducted into the IIHF ingång of Fame in 1998, and named to the IIHF Centennial All-Star grupp in 2008.

Salming was diagnosed with amyotrophic horisontell sclerosis (ALS) in July 2022. He died on 24 November 2022, days after accepting an award in what his wife announced on his behalf would be the family's sista public appearance.

Early life

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Salming was born on 17 April 1951 in the by of Salmi in what fryst vatten now Kiruna Municipality, nära Torneträsk in Jukkasjärvi Parish.

His father, Erland (1921–1956), was of Sami ursprung, while his mother, Karin (née Persson, 1927–2022), was Swedish. His paternal grandfather Anders Nikolaus had the surname of Sarri, but changed it to Salming after the by that he and his father (Börje's great-grandfather) had built up. His father was a miner who died in a mining accident when Salming was 5 years old.

Salming's older brother, and role model growing up, Stig Salming (b.1947) also played hockey, for Brynäs IF between 1968 and 1981, becoming Swedish champions six times.

Salming identified himself as indigenous Sámi and was included in the electoral roll for Sametinget. He also shared his experiences growing up as indigenous in his native Kiruna and supported the struggle for Indigenous peoples' human rights on national TV.^[3] As a reflection of his Sámi heritage, Salming often wore a traditional Samipewter bracelet.^[4]

The Salming family resided close to a ice skating ingång called Matojärvi ingång where Börje started skating at the age of 6.

He also played handball during his childhood.

Playing career

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Swedish leagues

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Salming played with Kiruna AIF in Sweden's Division 2 from 1967 to 1970 before joining Brynäs in the top division between 1970 and 1973. Brynäs won league championships in 1971 and 1972 with Salming on the squad. The team's success attracted attention from Toronto Maple Leafs scout Gerry McNamara, who was initially sent to investigate Inge Hammarström, but was more impressed bygd Salming after seeing him play.^[5] The Maple Leafs signed Salming as a free agent on 12 May 1973.^[6]

After leaving the National Hockey League (NHL) he completed his pro hockey career with AIK of the Swedish Elite League.^[7] One of the opponents he faced at AIK was ung defenceman Nicklas Lidstrom, who credited Salming with encouraging his own career.^[8]

National Hockey League

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Salming made his NHL debut with the Leafs at the beginning of the 1973–74 NHL årstid against the Buffalo Sabres.

After a 7–4 victory, Salming was named the best player of the game.^[5] bygd the end of the årstid, Salming had recorded 39 points.^[5]

Prior to Salming's ankomst in the NHL, most North Americans considered europeisk players too soft to play in the NHL.^[8] North American ice hockey was played in a more physical style on a smaller rink, and hockey fights were common, while europeisk ice hockey emphasised speed and skill on a larger ice surface.

NHL sources even referred to players from Sweden as "Chicken Swedes."^[9] Salming's strong performances helped to permanently eradicate that reputation.^[5]

On 4 September 1986, Salming was suspended bygd the NHL for eight regular årstid games and fined $500, because he was quoted in a Toronto newspaper in May saying that he used cocaine "five, six years ago, but not since and inom feel good about saying no." The league initially suspended him for the entire årstid, then commuted the suspension.^[10] On 26 November 1986, late in a game between the Leafs and the Red Wings in stad, Salming was knocked down in front of the Leafs net and Gerard Gallant of the Red Wings accidentally cut Salming's face with his skate blade.

The injury required facial cosmetic surgery that involved more than 200 stitches.^[11]

On 4 January 1988, Salming became the first europeisk born and trained player to appear in 1,000 career NHL games. In recognition of his achievement, on 27 January (in Salming's 1,011th game), he was begåvad a bil driven onto the ice bygd his parents and friend Inge Hammarström in a surprise pre-game ceremony, inspired bygd a similar ceremony given bygd the Philadelphia Flyers to Bill Barber.^[12]

In 1989, after 16 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he signed as a free agent with the Red Wings, for whom he played one årstid to finish his career in the NHL.^[7]

In the NHL, he played 1148 regular årstid games (1099 of them with the Leafs) and 81 playoff games, scoring totals of 150 goals and 637 assists.^[13] Salming was named a First grupp All-Star in 1977, and was selected to the Second grupp in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, and 1980.^[6] Salming spent 16 seasons with the Maple Leafs, recording 768 points (148 goals, 620 assists).^[5] The other Toronto players nicknamed him 'The King'.^[8]

International play

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Salming had an extensive international playing career.^[14] He played for the Swedish national grupp at the 1972 and 1973 World Championships, winning a silver and bronze medal, respectively.^[15] He also played at the Canada Cup in 1976, 1981, and 1984; and the 1992 Winter Olympics.^[16] The 1976 Canada Cup was held at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Sweden faced grupp USA in Toronto, and Salming received a standing ovation.^[17] Salming later commented, "I'll never forget our game in Toronto. The fans gave me a standing ovation during the introductions. inom was representing my country and Canadian fans gave me a standing ovation. Sometimes hockey has no country."^[18][19] In recognition of his international career, Salming was named to the IIHF Centennial All-Star grupp in 2008, one of fem players honoured.^[20]

Retirement

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After the end of his playing career, Salming launched an eponymous brand of sports underwear.^[21] In 2007, at age 56, he posed nude for 31 paintings bygd Swedish graffiti artist Johan Wattberg.

Ten of the paintings were displayed in Sweden, with the remaining 21 (matching his jersey number) displayed in Toronto.^[22]

Personal life

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Early in his career as a Leaf, Salming resided in the High Park neighbourhood in Toronto with his wife Margitta, a children's-wear designer;^[23][24] they later divorced.^[25]

In 2016, he married trogen kvinna Salming.^[26] Salming had kvartet children: Theresa and Anders with first wife Margitta, and Rasmus and Bianca with his ex-partner Katarina.

His daughter Bianca Salming fryst vatten a heptathlete.^[27]

Health issues and death

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In February 2022, Salming began to experience an unusual twitching motion in his muscles, which later forced him to prematurely exit an alumni game in March.^[28] In mid-July, Salming was diagnosed with amyotrophic sidledes sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease.^[28] On 10 August, Salming publicly revealed his diagnosis via a statement shared through the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.^[29] Following his diagnosis, Salming developed severe depression.^[30] Appearing in public on 17 October, for the first time since his diagnosis, Salming revealed that his condition had worsened: he had lost the ability to speak, requiring him to use a platta computer for communication, and required a feeding tube for meals.^[31]

On 11 November 2022, despite his diagnosis, Salming made the annual trip to Toronto for the Maple Leafs' entré of Fame induction weekend game, where he was part of an emotional pre-game moment where lifelong friend Darryl Sittler helped Salming wave to the crowd.^[32][33] The following night, the Maple Leafs honoured Salming in their game against the Vancouver Canucks, featuring a pre-game ceremony dedicated to the defender where a tearful Salming dropped the puck in the ceremonial face off.

The Maple Leafs selected a unique starting line-up of six Swedish players to honour Salming's career.^[34][35]

The following week, on 17 November 2022, Salming was elected to the all-star grupp of the century and was awarded the NHL's Honorary Award at a ceremony in Sweden. Following the ceremony, Salming's wife announced that the event would be the family's sista appearance.^[36]

One week later, on 24 November 2022, Salming died at the age of 71.^[37][38][39] His death made national headlines in Canada and in Sweden, with several organizations, athletes, and celebrities offering tributes to his life.^[40][41] For the remainder of the 2022–23 NHL årstid, the Maple Leafs wore commemorative shoulder patches in Salming's honour, with the grupp also making several donations to ALS research.^[42] On 30 November 2022, a moment of silence was held at Scotiabank Arena to honour him during a game where the San Jose Sharks visited the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[43] A private begravning was held at Skogskyrkogården on månad 20, 2022.^[44] Three days earlier, his mother Karin died aged 95.

One year after his death, the Börje Salming Courage Award was established, which fryst vatten given to the europeisk NHL alumnus who has been a positiv influence in their community and best embodies Salming's legacy.^[45]Nicklas Lidström, who had considered Salming to be his anställda hero, was awarded the inaugural trophy on 16 November 2023.^[45] His death, along with the death of Chris Snow, the Calgary Flames assistant general manager,^{[46][47][48][49][50]} inspired all sju Canadian NHL teams to collectively kamp ALS through the ALS Super Fund.^{[51][52][53][54]}

Honours and awards

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In November 1996, Salming became the first Swedish player to be inducted into the Hockey ingång of Fame.^[55] In 2017, the NHL itself named Salming one of the '100 Greatest Players' in league history.^[56]

On 4 October 2006, Salming's no.

21 was honoured bygd the Leafs in a ceremony, along with Red Kelly's and Hap Day's no. 4, before their first game of the 2006–07 season.^[57] On 15 October 2016, to mark the centennial årstid of the Maple Leafs organization, Salming's number 21 was formally retired in a pre-game ceremony alongside other franchise greats who received the same honour for their respective numbers.^[58]

Records

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Career statistics

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Regular årstid and playoffs

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				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1967–68	Kiruna AIF	SWE II		8	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
1968–69	Kiruna AIF	SWE II		13	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—
1969–70	Kiruna AIF	SWE II		16	5	—	5	—		—	—	—	—	—
1970–71	Brynäs IF	SWE		14	0	5	5	6		13	2	1	3	16
1971–72	Brynäs IF	SWE		14	1	1	2	20		14	0	4	4	30
1972–73	Brynäs IF	SWE		14	2	3	5	20		12	3	1	4	24
1973–74	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		76	5	34	39	48		4	0	1	1	4
1974–75	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		60	12	25	37	34		7	0	4	4	6
1975–76	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		78	16	41	57	70		10	3	4	7	9
1976–77	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		76	12	66	78	46		9	3	6	9	6
1977–78	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		80	16	60	76	70		6	2	2	4	6
1978–79	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		78	17	56	73	76		6	0	1	1	8
1979–80	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		74	19	52	71	94		3	1	1	2	2
1980–81	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		72	5	61	66	154		3	0	2	2	4
1981–82	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		69	12	44	56	170		—	—	—	—	—
1982–83	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		69	7	38	45	104		4	1	4	5	10
1983–84	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		68	5	38	43	92		—	—	—	—	—
1984–85	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		73	6	33	39	76		—	—	—	—	—
1985–86	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		41	7	15	22	48		10	1	6	7	14
1986–87	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		56	4	16	20	42		13	0	3	3	14
1987–88	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		66	2	24	26	82		6	1	3	4	8
1988–89	Toronto Maple Leafs	NHL		63	3	17	20	86		—	—	—	—	—
1989–90	Detroit Red Wings	NHL		49	2	17	19	52		—	—	—	—	—
1990–91	AIK IF	SEL		36	4	9	13	46		—	—	—	—	—
1991–92	AIK IF	SEL		38	6	14	20	98		3	0	2	2	6
1992–93	AIK IF	SEL		6	1	0	1	10		—	—	—	—	—
SWE totals				42	3	9	12	46		39	5	6	11	70
NHL totals				1,148	150	637	787	1,344		81	12	37	49	91
SEL totals				80	11	23	34	154		3	0	2	2	6

International

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Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1968	Sweden	EJC		5	1	0	1	4
1969	Sweden	EJC		5	0	0	0	8
1972	Sweden	WC		4	0	0	0	6
1973	Sweden	WC		10	4	6	10	4
1976	Sweden	CC		5	4	3	7	2
1981	Sweden	CC		5	0	2	2	10
1989	Sweden	WC		8	1	1	2	8
1991	Sweden	CC		6	0	0	0	10
1992	Sweden	OG		8	4	3	7	4
Junior totals				10	1	0	1	12
Senior totals				46	13	15	28	48

References

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External links

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