How Swede He Was: Borje's Battle Becomes A TV Series

Borje. You know you’re famous when you can go by a single handle. In Canada, that was the legacy of Borje Salming. The publicity has begun for the six-part TV series Borje: The Journey of a Legend— a dramatic tribute to HOF defenceman Salming who died of ALS at age 71 in late 2022.

It’s a recreation of Toronto’s recruitment of Salming in the Harold Ballard era of the early 1970s with chief scout Gerry McNamara— played by Jason Priestly— scooping him from northern Sweden. And his special— sometimes controversial—career in North America. 

Salming was the precursor to a wave of Europeans about to invade the NHL— which was almost one-hundred percent Canadian at the time. The promo for the film shows highlights of his career from the attempts to intimidate him, his courage on the ice and his nasty facial injury in November of 1986. He still ranks as one of the Top 5 Swedes ever in the NHL.

The Swedish actor playing Salming— Viktor Skarsgard—had little idea just how popular Borje was. “Still blows my mind,” Skarsgard said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “Still hear stories and hear people talk about how much he meant (to Toronto). And I’m like, ‘Oh, I still haven’t understood it yet.’” Salming himself cooperated in the production prior to the onset of ALS, scouting locations in Toronto with producer Amir Chamdin.

Skarsgard comes from an acting family; father Stellan (Chernobyl) and older brother Alexander (Succession) are both internationally known actors. The film also. features Maple Leafs legends Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald and Tiger Williams. 

The release of the movie recalled our column on Salming’s final, sad visit to Toronto in November of 2022. There are moments that only the world of sports can do justice. Plot lines that would be laughed at in story meetings are acceptable in sports. As they said for decades on Wide World of Sports, “The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat…” 

Case in point: The two nights this November in which NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Borje Salming returned to his hockey home in Toronto for a sombre farewell to Maple Leafs fans. Stricken with cruel ALS, Salming found the strength to appear publicly on consecutive nights with former team mates in scenes that would make even the hardest heart weep.  [Full disclosure: We lost our brother-in-law to ALS and our closest friend to the disease]

Supported by his former team captain, a weeping Darryl Sittler, Salming did his best to absorb the love from Leafs Nation at the Scotiabank Centre. A touching video of his heroics played as Salming dropped the ceremonial puck before the Toronto/ Vancouver contest. 

His afflicted face reflected the cruelty of what is widely known as Lou Gehrig disease. (In a move only a Centre of the Universe fan can make, someone suggested that, because Gehrig played a century ago, the disease should now be known as Borne Salming disease so younger people can get cozy with it. Please.)

For those  too young to have seen Salming in his prime, he was the template of the Swedish NHL defenceman to come. Arriving in a league hostile to anyone but Canadian players, he rose to the top at his position despite the chaos behind the scenes with the Harold Ballard’s Leafs. Think a more physical Nicklas Lidstrom, a more stylish Victor Hedman, a shot-blocking Erik Karlsson. 

Long and lean, he was courageous in a time when Swedes, in the mocking words of Ballard, were said to go into the corner with eggs in their pocket and not break one. Borje stopped that talk. He put up 787 points during his career and made so many teammates look better playing next to him. 

For an organization tortured by Ballard’s antics and continued mismanagement Salming was a beacon of hope for fans who have not seen even a Stanley Cup final series appearance since 1967. With Sittler and Lanny McDonald he offered a chance for respectability. A chance that— through no fault of Salming’s— never arrived. 

Testament to how respected he was, Salming was never a target of abuse from rival fans. His skill and courage— he once absorbed 200-plus stitches in his face  to repair a hideous skate gash and played three days latter— was admired even in super-rival Montreal. When he had personal substance problems, he was never mocked by even the most bitter foes. 

Salming arrived just as international hockey became a thing with the 1972 Canada/ USSR series. The trickle of players like Salming soon became a steady flow of Europeans that culminated in the eventual arrival of Russians and other Soviet Bloc players in the 1980s and ‘90s. International games at the Canada Cup, Rendezvous Series and Olympics became the greatest contests many fans ever saw. 

The six-episode series premiered Sunday — available exclusively in Canada on European streaming service Viaplay at Viaplay.com. It’s also available through Crave.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.