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

[Mugzy97]

Full disclosure, I was born in 1990 so he retired around the same time I was born... So I've never got the chance to see him play.

I watched a short video about Salming last night and it got me looking into stats and numbers and it's quite obvious he was our best defenseman of all-time without a doubt.

Here is Borje's Maple Leaf regular season stat line:
GP 1,099 (ranks #2 in Leafs history among Defensemen behind Tim Horton - 1,184)
G 148 (ranks #1 in Leafs history among Defensemen by a large margin, #2 Red Kelly at 119)
A 620 (ranks #1 in Leafs history among Defensemen by a large margin, #2 is Tomas Kaberle at 437)
P 768 (ranks #1 in Leafs history among Defensemen by a large margin, #2 is Tomas Kaberle at 520)
Plus/Minus +150 (ranks #2 in Leafs history among ALL SKATERS behind Tim Horton, +151)
P/GP - 0.70

Other stats ranked among all-time regular season Leafs defensemen:
Powerplay goals - ranks 2nd
Powerplay points - ranks 1st
Shorthanded goals - ranks 1st
Game winning goals - ranks 6th
Shots on goal - ranks 1st

Here is his Maple Leaf playoff stats:
GP - 81 (ranks #4 among defensemen)
G -12 (rank #3 among defensemen)
A - (ranks #2 among defensemen)
P - (ranks #2 among defensemen)


These numbers are unbelievable! On top of these numbers, he was said to be an amazing defensive defenseman as well. Wendell Clarke said he blocked more shots than some goalies but never missed too many games due to injury. Tough as nails considering the gear he must have worn comparable to today.

Just for fun I compared his numbers to Morgan Rielly's current pace since he has about half the games played than Salming did.
GP - 556
G - 58
A - 239
P - 297
P/GP - 0.53

If Rielly finished his career at his current career pace and played the same amount of games as Salming, he would finish with approx 116 goals, 478 assists, 594 points. NOWHERE NEAR Salming's numbers in any category. This isn't meant to bash Rielly, just using him as a comparison to Salming to give myself an idea of just how good Salming must have been! Although it is possible, these numbers may never be reached in my lifetime.

Click to read more...

 

[Teeder Keon]

The best Leaf Defence man ever and one of the best all time Dmen ever .

 

[Gary Nylund]

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.

 

[Spirit of 67]

He was awesome.

Way ahead of his time too. He'd be far better in today's NHL. He was a more modern defender than a 70's type.

 

[Marshy]

I wish I would have saw him in the first half of his career with the Leafs. I watched him from around 79/80 on and that Ballard run Leaf team was ass. He deserved much better than that meddling clown of an owner. Borje was a warrior his story of coming over and being called chicken swede and bullied in that 70s bloodbath era - while still excelling and elevating his game to become a perennial all-star and Norris candidate make him a legend in my book.

 

[The Podium]

The best Leafs defenseman since, and top 2 in franchise history.

Solid two-way D who played very similar to a prime Doughty but had a prime that spanned 15 years.

 

[Rondo Hatton]

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.

I don't have the ability to "like" comments so I will quote this and give you the thumbs up. Great selection of Toronto athletes

Salming was other-worldly in his first seasons

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

He's the king!

 

[Mickey Marner]

At worst he's gotta' be our clear cut best defenseman since expansion. Which says something about both him and our defensemen since.

 

[hoglund]

He was great from the early 70s until mid 80s, but was always out by the late 80s and it was odd because his reason for being out was usually sinus issues not typical for hockey injuries. Overall he was great.

 

[ottomaddox]

I wonder how good he is at assembling Ikea furniture.

 

[justloveleafs]

My best friend and I hired Borje a week ago, I personally wrote the press release. It hasnt been released yet.

I knew him back in the day, and of course we know him now. Before I knew him, my tennis coach, who trained a lot of hockey players, said Borje had the most outrageous body and musculature he had ever seen. He, old coach, still maintains he has never seen a guy built like that.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cn9wSg-WIAAMnEO.jpg
There is a picture of Salming on the net, at 65, here.

For the first four or five years of his career, he rushed the puck all the way up the ice. A la Orr.

Thereafter, after being hacked and chopped he stopped , went to center ice, and distributed the puck.

After sittler and Mcdonald were traded, he literally had almost no one to play with. But he never wanted out of Toronto, he loved this city so much.

I dunno what HBboards policies are completely. Maybe we can set up a call with him. But for now I just want to get the release out.

For now, all I can say, is how cool is the guy? Well his teammates dubbed him the King. Sundin says he and Bjorn Borg put Sweden on the map, as well as Ingmar the skier. They are the big three.

Borje is mobbed wherever he goes in Sweden.

And up till Covid, he loved coming to Toronot, all the way from Sweden as many as three times a year.

He feels he has two homes, Sweden and Canada.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

He was awesome. Bower is my all time favourite Leaf but Borje is very close. An absolute warrior. Guy put up with so much abuse and just kept excelling. While the injury had nothing to do with the abuse he took, I always thought the photo of his 250+ stitches to the face almost perfectly summarized his career.

Maybe the one positive light I can shed on the despicable waste of flesh that was Harold Ballard is that he is how we ended up with Borje. Essentially he was signed to spite Harold Ballard.

 

[Beaumaris]

My all time favorite Leaf.He was immense.

 

[crump]

“The King” He was a revelation. This tall lanky kid from nowhere came to camp and opened a lot of peoples eyes to Europe.

His skating was so fluid, especially in the 70’s, it was a wonder to watch. Fearless in blocking shots, vision and finish. The whole package. Played against the Broad Street Bullies, took no guff. My favourite all time Leaf defenseman.

Maybe this will give you a taste..

 

[Buds17]

HOF blueliner that was arguably this franchise's best at the position. I would have been a bit too young to fully grasp what I was watching here. He was that close to being a Leaf for the entirety of his NHL career too.

 

[Primary Assist]

Not even kidding, his grilling cook book completely changed the way I make burgers. Typically, I would use BBQ sauce as a condiment to be put on the burger after grilling. HOWEVER, if you mix the barbecue sauce in with the ground beef before grilling as discussed on page 67 of Grilling with Salming, in the Börje's Best Burger section, then the meat stays nice and moist and the flavor permeates throughout the entire patty.

As a defenseman? Yeah, sure, top 20 or whatever of all time, cool. As a burger chef? PAR EXCELLENCE.

 

[Gary Nylund]

IIRC Salming came up with a new trick that nobody had ever done before. Not sure of the history exactly and I think they might have changed the rules to stop it. But anyway ... when the puck was loose in front of our net, Salming would sometimes "accidentally" fall on his back, trapping the puck underneath him and thereby getting the play whistled dead. Because he fell on his back, it wasn't super obvious that it was intentional and every time he did it he was obviously risking injury as being on your back in a crowd in front of the net in the NHL isn't a safe place. He didn't do it often, then it would have too obvious but every now and then at a crucial moment in the game, there was Borje, on his back in front of our net with the puck trapped underneath him. Genius!

Another memory is when there was a bench clearing brawl against the infamous Broad Street Bullies, a team so violent that some of their players were even charged with criminal offences after one particularly violent brawl against the Leafs. Salming ended up fighting Dave Schultz, possibly the most infamous goon of all time and he held his own. They later asked him on the bench how he dared to fight Dave "the hammer" and he just shrugged, said he didn't know who it was he was fighting, he was just doing his job. Who knows if he knew or not, would be just like him though to do what the toughest thing that there was to do in hockey at the time and pretend like it was no big deal.

They broke the mold when they made Borje Salming. I don't use the word legend lightly but that man is a living legend!

 

[Thissiteisgarbage]

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

 

[Green Snow Storm]

Full disclosure, I was born in 1990 so he retired around the same time I was born... So I've never got the chance to see him play.

I watched a short video about Salming last night and it got me looking into stats and numbers and it's quite obvious he was our best defenseman of all-time without a doubt.

Here is Borje's Maple Leaf regular season stat line:
GP 1,099 (ranks #2 in Leafs history among Defensemen behind Tim Horton - 1,184)
G 148 (ranks #1 in Leafs history among Defensemen by a large margin, #2 Red Kelly at 119)
A 620 (ranks #1 in Leafs history among Defensemen by a large margin, #2 is Tomas Kaberle at 437)
P 768 (ranks #1 in Leafs history among Defensemen by a large margin, #2 is Tomas Kaberle at 520)
Plus/Minus +150 (ranks #2 in Leafs history among ALL SKATERS behind Tim Horton, +151)
P/GP - 0.70

Other stats ranked among all-time regular season Leafs defensemen:
Powerplay goals - ranks 2nd
Powerplay points - ranks 1st
Shorthanded goals - ranks 1st
Game winning goals - ranks 6th
Shots on goal - ranks 1st

Here is his Maple Leaf playoff stats:
GP - 81 (ranks #4 among defensemen)
G -12 (rank #3 among defensemen)
A - (ranks #2 among defensemen)
P - (ranks #2 among defensemen)


These numbers are unbelievable! On top of these numbers, he was said to be an amazing defensive defenseman as well. Wendell Clarke said he blocked more shots than some goalies but never missed too many games due to injury. Tough as nails considering the gear he must have worn comparable to today.

Just for fun I compared his numbers to Morgan Rielly's current pace since he has about half the games played than Salming did.
GP - 556
G - 58
A - 239
P - 297
P/GP - 0.53

If Rielly finished his career at his current career pace and played the same amount of games as Salming, he would finish with approx 116 goals, 478 assists, 594 points. NOWHERE NEAR Salming's numbers in any category. This isn't meant to bash Rielly, just using him as a comparison to Salming to give myself an idea of just how good Salming must have been! Although it is possible, these numbers may never be reached in my lifetime.

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.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

My best friend and I hired Borje a week ago, I personally wrote the press release. It hasnt been released yet.

I knew him back in the day, and of course we know him now. Before I knew him, my tennis coach, who trained a lot of hockey players, said Borje had the most outrageous body and musculature he had ever seen. He, old coach, still maintains he has never seen a guy built like that.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cn9wSg-WIAAMnEO.jpg
There is a picture of Salming on the net, at 65, here.

For the first four or five years of his career, he rushed the puck all the way up the ice. A la Orr.

Thereafter, after being hacked and chopped he stopped , went to center ice, and distributed the puck.

After sittler and Mcdonald were traded, he literally had almost no one to play with. But he never wanted out of Toronto, he loved this city so much.

I dunno what HBboards policies are completely. Maybe we can set up a call with him. But for now I just want to get the release out.

For now, all I can say, is how cool is the guy? Well his teammates dubbed him the King. Sundin says he and Bjorn Borg put Sweden on the map, as well as Ingmar the skier. They are the big three.

Borje is mobbed wherever he goes in Sweden.

And up till Covid, he loved coming to Toronot, all the way from Sweden as many as three times a year.

He feels he has two homes, Sweden and Canada.

Jealous.

 

[Dayjobdave]

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.

 

[Mugzy97]

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.

Not really true. There are leafs putting up higher points in seasons in the last couple years than some of the leafs Salming played with in his prime. It's not the same, but it's certainly not irrelevant information.

In Salming's highest point season, Lanny McDonald put up 90 points in 80 games. Mitch Marner put up 94 points just 2 seasons ago.

 

[The Nic]

Without any doubt... the best Maple Leafs player that I have ever seen in over 50 years of watching the team.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Not really true. There are leafs putting up higher points in seasons in the last couple years than some of the leafs Salming played with in his prime. It's not the same, but it's certainly not irrelevant information.

In Salming's highest point season, Lanny McDonald put up 90 points in 80 games. Mitch Marner put up 94 points just 2 seasons ago.

Yeah I can't be bothered to look it up but there were some years in the 80's where there were a ton of goals scored but in the 70's, not so much.

It doesn't really matter though, with a legend like Salming, numbers don't even begin to tell the story. Legend!!