‘What I’ll miss most is looking forward to him coming.’ Darryl Sittler remembers Borje Salming
The noise was deafening 46 years ago. Darryl Sittler soaked in the scene at Maple Leaf Gardens as Team Canada prepared to battle Team Sweden in the Canada Cup. The roar of the crowd was unforgettable. But it wasn’t for him, even though he was the Toronto Maple Leafs’ star scorer at the time. It wasn’t for Bobby Orr, who was the best player on the planet.
It was for Borje Salming. He got the longest, largest ovation of anyone playing that night.
“And that, to me,” Sittler said, “was a statement of respect and appreciation for who he was as a player and coming over and enduring what he did as a player.”
The noise was deafening two weeks ago, too, back in Toronto, this time at Scotiabank Arena, not a dry eye in the house. The fans gave Salming, 71, what everyone understood to be a farewell as he entered the final stages of his battle with ALS, unable to speak. Speaking to Daily Faceoff Friday, less than 24 hours after Salming passed away, his good friend Sittler was filled with appreciation for the tribute. It meant the world to Salming that he was on hand that weekend to witness three Swedes – Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Alfredsson – inducted to the Hall of Fame. As Salming’s wife Pia, son Anders and daughter Theresa told Sittler, Salming’s family hadn’t seen him that happy since the day he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“It’s one of those special moments that don’t come along very often in everyone’s life,” Sittler said. “And those who were there to experience it or watch it, they’ll remember it with obviously sadness but with a lot of pride that it actually happened and we could witness it and show our appreciation. You couldn’t have written the script any better.”
But what wasn’t completely visible and understood as Salming smiled to the crowd two weeks ago, simultaneously overjoyed to be there and heartbroken, was what he had endured just to be present.
“He knew he wanted to show his appreciation and he wanted his family to experience it,” Sittler said. “I don’t think any of us would’ve gone through what he did. You come from Stockholm, you’ve got to make a connecting flight. He’s got oxygen with him, he’s got to be fed through a feeding tube in his stomach, he had to have machines there in case he was choking, so there were a lot of things that were happening, but he ended up being here. That’s who he was a player. When he had a challenge ahead of him, he made it happen.”
And much of Salming’s 17-year, Hall-of-Fame NHL career consisted of overcoming challenges. When he arrived in Toronto for the 1973-74 season, he spoke no English. Sittler remembers being blown away by Salming and fellow Swedish import Inge Hammarstrom’s pristine physical condition, and other teams were eager to test it during arguably the most violent era of NHL hockey. Salming was hit, slashed, cheapshotted, you name it and he had to weather it as North American players wanted him to prove he belonged. He withstood it all – most infamously a 1986 skate cut to the face requiring 250 stitches – and thrived.
He was a four-time Norris Trophy finalist, a two-time runner-up, a five-time second-team all-star and one-time first team all-star. Even as a defenseman, he remains the all-time assists leader for a franchise in its 105th season. He happened to share an era with Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin and Larry Robinson. In Sittler’s mind, Salming was just as good as any of them. He was an all-time great sometimes hiding in plain sight because he cared not for self-promotion.
“He never changed as a person,” Sittler said. “Never been one to want admiration, very supportive of his teammates, too.”
Salming and Sittler remained close friends long after they were teammates. Every time Salming returned to Canada, which he considered a second home, they made a point to reunite, whether it was a family dinner or spending time together after an alumni game.
“What I’m going miss the most about Borje,” Sittler said, “is looking forward to him coming.”
So will everyone in the hockey world. ‘The King,’ one of its classiest, toughest presences, is gone. But forever cherished.