#121 - Borje Salming

Borje Salming (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #121)

Adjusted Stats

1973-1974   Tor        80 GP   5 goals     34 assists   39 points     0.49 PPG
1974-1975   Tor        62 GP   11 goals   23 assists   34 points     0.55 PPG
1975-1976   Tor        80 GP   15 goals   38 assists   53 points     0.66 PPG
1976-1977   Tor        78 GP   11 goals   63 assists   74 points     0.95 PPG
1977-1978   Tor        82 GP   15 goals   57 assists   73 points     0.89 PPG
1978-1979   Tor        80 GP   15 goals   50 assists   66 points     0.82 PPG
1979-1980   Tor        76 GP   17 goals   47 assists   64 points     0.84 PPG
1980-1981   Tor        74 GP   4 goals     50 assists   54 points     0.73 PPG
1981-1982   Tor        71 GP   9 goals     35 assists   44 points     0.62 PPG
1982-1983   Tor        71 GP   6 goals     31 assists   37 points     0.52 PPG
1983-1984   Tor        70 GP   4 goals     30 assists   34 points     0.49 PPG
1984-1985   Tor        75 GP   5 goals     27 assists   32 points     0.42 PPG
1985-1986   Tor        42 GP   6 goals     12 assists   17 points     0.42 PPG
1986-1987   Tor        57 GP   3 goals     14 assists   17 points     0.30 PPG
1987-1988   Tor        68 GP   2 goals     20 assists   22 points     0.33 PPG
1988-1989   Tor        65 GP   3 goals     14 assists   17 points     0.26 PPG
1989-1990   Det        50 GP   2 goals     15 assists   16 points     0.32 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

1973-1974   Tor        4 GP     0 goals      1 assist      1 point        0.24 PPG
1974-1975   Tor        7 GP     0 goals      4 assists    4 points       0.52 PPG
1975-1976   Tor        10 GP   3 goals      4 assists    7 points       0.68 PPG
1976-1977   Tor        9 GP     3 goals      5 assists    8 points       0.88 PPG
1977-1978   Tor        6 GP     2 goals      2 assists    4 points       0.65 PPG
1978-1979   Tor        6 GP     0 goals      1 assist      1 point        0.15 PPG
1979-1980   Tor        3 GP     1 goal        1 assist     2 points       0.57 PPG
1980-1981   Tor        3 GP     0 goals      1 assist      1 point        0.47 PPG
1982-1983   Tor        4 GP     1 goal        3 assists    4 points      0.98 PPG
1985-1986   Tor        10 GP   1 goal        5 assists    6 points      0.61 PPG
1986-1987   Tor        13 GP   0 goals      3 assists    3 points      0.21 PPG
1987-1988   Tor        6 GP     1 goal        2 assists    3 points     0.50 PPG

Career - 1181 GP, 133 goals, 560 assists, 693 points, 0.59 PPG
Career-Highs - 17 goals (79-80); 63 assists (76-77); 74 points (76-77); 0.95 PPG (76-77)
Avg. (17 seasons) - 69 GP, 8 goals, 33 assists, 41 points, 0.59 PPG
Peak Avg. (75-83) - 77 GP, 12 goals, 46 assists, 58 points, 0.75 PPG, 0 Cups

Playoff Career - 81 GP, 12 goals, 32 assists, 44 points, 0.54 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 3 goals (76-77); 5 assists (76-77); 8 points (76-77); 0.98 PPG (82-83)

Accolades - None
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 5-time 2nd-team
Never Won Stanley Cup

Before there was Nicklas Lidstrom, there was Borje Salming. No, Salming never won a Stanley Cup or a Norris trophy, things that Lidstrom has done so many times that it's become routine. But Salming paved the way for not just Swedish defencemen, but European players everywhere in the North American game. Before Salming's impact, there had been European-born players who had thrived (like Stan Mikita), but rarely someone who had actually grown up oversees and had their junior training anywhere but in Canada.

It's worth noting the prejudices that Salming had to overcome. He arrived in hockey-mad Toronto when they were a team in transition. The Original Six days were over, and Toronto struggled to keep up with the dynasty Canadiens and the solid teams that the Bruins and Flyers had assembled. Without Darryl Sittler and Borje Salming, the Leafs of the 1970s would have been the laughingstock they turned into in the 1980s. Instead, they were perenially average but sometimes surprised come playoff time, winning a playoff round or two where they had no business doing so. Salming's excellent two-way play and visionary passing eventually earned him the respect of the Toronto fanbase, as demonstrated by the fact they gave him a standing ovation when he played for Sweden in the 1976 Canada Cup.

Unfortunately, moronic owner Harold Ballard remained convinced that European players couldn't thrive in the NHL and went out of his way to make things difficult for Salming. If Salming had been fortunate enough to play for the Canadiens or Bruins during the prime years of his career instead of for a mediocre organization with an unappreciative owner, we'd be talking about him in the top 100, no question.

His accomplishments as they are still stand up. While he never won the Norris, Salming was considered one of the league's four best defencemen six times (all in a row, from the period of 1974 to 1980). This is all the more impressive when you consider that that stretch coincided with the run of the greatest hockey team of all-time, the late-1970s Habs, as well as excellent teams like the Islanders, Bruins and Flyers whom Salming had to face on a regular basis. Furthermore, he was earning all-star honours going up against fellow Pyramid defencemen Denis Potvin, Larry Robinson, Brad Park, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe and, oh yeah, Bobby Orr in 1974 and 1975. It's arguably the time when the NHL was deepest at defence, and yet Salming was consistently considered one of the best.

That stretch is what makes Salming's legend. His career +/- averages out to a decent +13 per 82 games played (all the more impressive when you consider the truly awful Maple Leaf teams Salming toiled on throughout the 1980s). But if you isolate his six-year stretch from 1974 to 1980, Salming's impact becomes clear. During that run, Salming averaged 61 adjusted points and a +25...and as mentioned before, it's not like he and the Maple Leafs were running into creampuffs.

Salming doesn't rank higher on the Pyramid not only because of his lack of team success (like Sundin, that could be forgiven given that he was cursed with playing for the Maple Leafs), but rather because after his first eight or nine seasons, Salming's impact and production dropped off considerably. He never made another all-star team, and sank into the 25-30 point range. Part of this may have been due to Salming's admitted cocaine use. In 1986, he was almost suspended for the entire season after admitting to regularly using cocaine in a newspaper interview, but the suspension was reduced to eight games. It wasn't exactly shocking news: Salming looked like a cross between Rutger Hauer and Peter Weller from Robocop. There wasn't a lot of meat on his face to say the least.

Salming ended his career with the Red Wings, but he is of course remembered as a Maple Leaf. He's the best defencemen they've had since the post-expansion era, and quite possibly their best offensive-defencemen ever. Stanley Cup glory and Norris recognition never came to Salming. Instead, he is revered in Sweden, and quite possibly by all Europeans, for showing the North American audience that a European defencemen could not only survive in the NHL, but thrive.