"That's why it feels so good to come back here all the time...you walk on the street and they remember you."

Börje Salming: [laughs] I don't know anything about that. Then I guess if you think about it, if you think now, I guess they should have, because there's a lot of great hockey players over there. When they saw us (I think Hammarström, was an excellent hockey player, too) skating and everything. But it was a tough time to come over in the '70s, because there were rough times. There was the penalties and all that stuff. It was not that easy.

Now it's really hard. Nowadays you can look back and they can see if the ref had missed something you get suspended anyways. But at that time, you could do anything. But at the same time that was fun. A lot of people try to kill you -- "He's a Swede; we're going to kill that guy."

CM: I was going to say, though, I've watched a lot of old tapes. I've watched you play.

Before you came over, I think a lot of people were saying -- "oh, Europeans, they can't play this; they're not tough enough." And then you came over and they couldn't say that any more.

Börje Salming: I'm happy about that.

CM: So is this something you brought to the game? Or you just wanted to play... Were you playing to try and prove that? Or were you just playing your game?

Börje Salming: I just went out and played the game. I always did that. From day one, all the way, I just went out and went crazy. I tried to give 100 percent. Like Harabela, he said -- "Salming, if you give 100 percent from me, you're going to be here forever."

You know, Sometimes the puck hops over the stick, and everything like that. And he knew that, that's going to happen. But you give 100 percent. And that's all I did, and that's all I tried. But at the same time it was hard. Practices, I really worked hard. I loved to practice. I played in the practice, I played the same way as in a game. I blocked shots and everything like that, and they said -- "oh my god don't do it in practice you going to get hurt!"

Man, that's part of it, I got to do it.

CM: You had 16 seasons in Toronto, right? I was thinking there's one moment in '76, in the Canada Cup where Sweden's playing the US, and... Of course, I mean, Canadians -- we support our nation when we we're playing hockey, but we also support our teammates, our Leafs, right?

Börje Salming: Yeah.

CM: So there's a moment where I think they announced your name for Sweden against the US and you got a standing ovation. What was that like for you?

Börje Salming: That was amazing. Now I sort of really understand how big it was. And people back home -- they'd be telling me now, "oh geez I was crying, when on TV I see that." I said -- what? Crying?

CM: [laughs] I was almost crying watching it again the other day.

Börje Salming: ...And it was fantastic, but at the same time, when it happened, because I didn't know, I just thought, "now I got to play another team. Maybe they're going to boo me, or something" -- I didn't think that way, but...

CM: You never know, right?

Börje Salming: Yeah, you never know. Back then they just started to...there was a standing ovation. It was amazing. I think that's when the people back home, all the announcers and everything, understood like, "wow, what happened there?" I couldn't believe it.

Then they understood what I had done over here. They play pretty good hockey over here. Back then, I mean, anyways, they didn't understand. Now you can see the games; you can see anything on TV, right?

CM: Sure.

Börje Salming: At that time, they didn't sell any games or anything over there.

CM: I think of plenty of famous Swedes who played for Toronto. You have, of course, Mats Sundin, right? He's a legend as well. It seems like you had a huge impact on allowing people from Sweden to say, "I can do this." you have Forsberg, the Sedins. When we think about the top nations in hockey, you have really a handful of nations you're going to talk about. You have the US and Canada and Sweden and the Czechs are great, but Sweden is always in the running for the gold medal.

So what impact do you think you had on that? Or do you get a sense that when you were coming home, more people were saying like, "I've been following what you're doing."

Börje Salming: Of course, because there's a lot of people following everything over here now, especially. I've heard they're sort of saying, "gee what's going on over there?" Accomplished; that was a good tournament. Everybody had the best team, and everything. I think that was a big impact. After a couple years, when I think about it, there were over 20 guys in the league. I guess it was that impact.

CM: For sure. How much of a home did Toronto become for you? Because you spent a long, long time here, and it would not shock me at all if you walked down the street and people stopped you all the time. It really wouldn't surprise me if you're walking even on the way here -- someone said, "is that..."

Börje Salming: They still do.

CM: Yeah. I'm sure. How much of a home did Toronto become for you? Sweden is where you're from and you always take that with you, but did Toronto become home?

Börje Salming: Of course Sweden is your home, and you're born there, you've got your relatives, everybody there...

CM: Sure.

Börje Salming: But Toronto is a home for me because every time when I came back (we went back for the summer to see the relatives and everything.) But we came back here -- my family was at Maple Leafs Gardens. All the old guys - now it's big security, but there were old guys sitting in every corner. And everybody came in and everybody was hugging, and I went in the back and saw the guys, and the ice machine. It was like a big family. I was so happy to come back every time. They were too. They were like "oh Borje, you're back..."

CM: [laughs]