Tommy Mikael Salo (born February 1, 1971) is a Swedish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

and the current

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The c ...

of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He previously played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the New York Islanders,

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

and

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

, and previously served as

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

IK Oskarshamn IK Oskarshamn is an ice hockey club from Oskarshamn in Sweden. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The 2019–20 season will be the team's first s ...

Playing career

Salo began his career playing three seasons in the Elitserien with

Västerås IK Västerås IK (''Västerås Ishockey klubb'') is an ice hockey club from Västerås, Sweden. The team is currently playing in the second-tier league in Sweden, Hockeyallsvenskan. Västerås IK played 12 seasons in the top Swedish league Elitserien ...

. He was chosen 118th overall, in the fifth round, by the New York Islanders in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. He debuted with the Islanders in 1994–95, but would play the majority of his first two seasons in North America with New York's International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate, the

Utah Grizzlies The Utah Grizzlies are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. Franchise history The current Utah Grizzlies franchise started in 1981 as the Nashville South Star ...

. Playing in the IHL, Salo won back-to-back

Turner Cup The Turner Cup was the championship trophy of the International Hockey League from 1945 to 2001 and the renamed United Hockey League from 2007 to 2010. The Cup was named for Joe Turner, a goaltender from Windsor, Ontario. Turner became professi ...

s with the Grizzlies as league champions and earned the N.R. "Bud" Poile Trophy as playoff MVP in 1996. In his first year, he was named both league MVP and rookie of the year in 1995, in addition to First Team All-Star honours and a

James Norris Memorial Trophy The James Norris Memorial Trophy, or simply the Norris Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top " defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". It is named after Ja ...

for allowing the fewest goals against. In 1996–97, Salo emerged as the Islanders' starting goaltender and played in that capacity for the club until March 20, 1999, when he was traded to the

in exchange for

Mats Lindgren Mats Anders Lindgren (born 1 October 1974) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey forward. He was selected in the first round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, 15th overall, by the Winnipeg Jets, although he never had the opportunity to play for ...

and an eighth-round pick in the

1999 NHL Entry Draft The 1999 NHL Entry Draft was the 37th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 at the FleetCenter in Boston. According to ''Sports Illustrated'' and other sports news agencies, at the time the 1999 draft was considered one of the deepest in talen ...

(used to select

Radek Martínek Radek Martínek (born August 31, 1976) is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman who last played for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Martínek was an eighth-round selection, 228th overall, by ...

). Salo found his stride in Edmonton and was chosen to two All-Star Games in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

and 2002. In 2001–02, Salo recorded a career-best 2.22

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending ...

(GAA). On March 9, 2004, after six seasons with Edmonton, Salo was traded to the

(along with a sixth-round pick in the

2004 NHL Entry Draft The 2004 NHL Entry Draft was the 42nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 and 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is especially notable because it was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout ...

) in exchange for Tom Gilbert. As NHL play was suspended the following season due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Salo returned to Sweden in signing a one-year contract with

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

of the Elitserien. After Modo was eliminated in the playoffs by

Färjestad BK Färjestad Bollklubb (; abbreviated as FBK) is a Swedish professional ice hockey team based in Karlstad. Färjestad has had 21 Swedish Championship final appearances, winning ten times since the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien) ...

, Salo announced his retirement from professional hockey on March 17, 2005, citing chronic hip pain. However, on August 4, he returned to the Elitserien to sign with Frölunda HC. This led to a conflict with Modo since they had agreed to terminate his contract on account of his retirement. In light of this, the club appealed for Frölunda to pay Salo's salary. On August 11, the issue was settled after Modo withdrew their claim. By signing with Frölunda, Salo replaced the departing

Henrik Lundqvist Henrik Lundqvist (; born 2 March 1982) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played his entire 15-season career with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Before winning the Vezina Trophy in 2012, he ...

, who incidentally, had taken over Salo's starting position on the Swedish national team. On December 9, 2006, in an interview with Swedish newspaper '' Expressen'', Salo announced that he would retire from playing professional hockey after the 2006–07 season.

International play

Salo first competed for Sweden in the 1991 World Junior Championships. He played in six games and posted a 3.32 GAA. Several years later, he played an integral role in Sweden's gold medal victory at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

in Lillehammer, Norway. Salo made critical saves in the gold medal game, as they defeated

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a shootout to secure Sweden's first Olympic gold medal in ice hockey. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, Salo once again competed in the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, as NHL players were allowed to compete for the first time. He played in four games as Sweden failed to medal. At the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, Salo started for Sweden once more and were favourites to win the gold medal, placing first in the round robin. However, in the quarter-final game against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, with the game tied late in the third period, Salo surrendered a 20-metre goal from defenceman Vladimir Kopat. The long slap shot puck bounced off Salo's mask after he had hopped, went up in the air, and bounced off of his back and into the net. Sweden would not recover and Salo was made the scapegoat in one of the biggest upsets in international hockey history. Sweden captain

Mats Sundin Mats Johan Sundin (; born 13 February 1971) is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player who played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), retiring in 2009. Originally drafted first overall in 1989, Sundin played ...

berated fans and media for singling-out Salo, saying that "the entire team played subpar, a single fluke goal shouldn't cost us the game". Some would claim that Salo was never the same after the incident.

Coaching and executive career

Shortly after completing his playing career, on March 5, 2007, Kungälvs IK of the Swedish tier III league announced that Salo would be their head coach for the next two seasons. Following his tenure with the club, he signed with

on March 12, 2009. On December 1, 2010, Salo left his post at

to become general manager of

Legal issues

On 11 August 2020, Salo crashed his car into the middle railing on the E18 highway, east of

Köping ''Köping'' was a Swedish denomination for a market town since the Middle Ages, derived from the Old Norse word ''kaupang''. The designation was officially abolished with the municipal reform of 1971, when Sweden was subdivided into the Municip ...

, Sweden. Police arrived to the scene and found Salo sleeping in his car. A blood sample showed that Salo was heavily intoxicated with 3.06 ‰ alcohol in his blood stream. On 20 January 2021, Salo was convicted for aggravated drunken driving and sentenced to two months in prison.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

International International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

* Won a Channel One Cup/Izvestia Trophy bronze medal with Sweden in 1993. * Won a

Winter Olympic The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were hel ...

gold medal with Sweden in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. * Won a

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

gold medal with Sweden at the

1998 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 1998 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 62nd such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Teams representing 40 countries participated in several levels of competition. The competition also served as qua ...

. * Won a

silver medal with Sweden at the 1997 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. * Won a

bronze medal with Sweden at the

1994 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 1994 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 58th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Teams representing 35 countries participated in several levels of competition, with an additional two national tea ...

. * Won a

bronze medal with Sweden at the 1999 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. * Won a

bronze medal with Sweden at the

2001 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2001 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were the 65th such event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. 40 teams representing their countries participated in several levels of competition. The competition also served as qualif ...

. * Won a

bronze medal with Sweden at the

2002 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2002 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held between 26 April and 11 May 2002 in Gothenburg, Karlstad and Jönköping, Sweden. It was the 66th annual event, and was run by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The competiti ...

. * Won a

silver medal with Sweden at the

2003 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2003 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 67th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The competition also served as qualification for division placements in the 2004 competition. Canada won the gol ...

. * Won a

World Cup of Hockey The World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996, it is the successor to the Canada Cup, which was held every 3 to 5 years from 1976 to 1991 and was the first international hockey championship to allow natio ...

bronze medal with Sweden at the first

in 1996. *

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

- World Cup's Best Goalkeeper 1997, 1998 , 1999. * IIHF - The World Championships All Star Team Act 1997, 1998, 1999. * IIHF - World Cup's best goalkeeper points in 1998 - 95.9 * Swedish All-Star Team 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. * Tre Kronor's First Guard 1994-2004. * All tournaments with Tre Kronor: WJC 1991, IZVESTIA TROPHY/CHANNEL ONE CUP 1993, OS 1994, VM 1994, World Cup of Hockey 1996, VM 1997, OS 1998, VM 1998, VM 1999, VM 2000, VM 2001, OS 2002, VM 2002, VM 2003, World Cup of Hockey 2004. * Internationals: 112 A , 27 B , 16 C. * One of his greatest achievements in Tre Kronor was when he made a decisive penalty save in the final against Canada in the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, which led to Sweden's first Olympic gold. * He is also one of the few who received six wasps by the Swedish newspaper Expressen, after holding zero in Sweden's two final matches against Finland in 1998. * He is the only Swedish goalkeeper to have played in three Olympic tournament series in 1994, 1998, 2002. IHL * Won the

James Gatschene Memorial Trophy The James Gatschene Memorial Trophy was awarded annually to the International Hockey League player selected as most valuable through his display of outstanding playing ability and sportsmanlike conduct over the course of the regular season, as ch ...

(league MVP) in 1995. * Won the

(fewest goals against) in 1995 and in 1996. * Won the Gary F. Longman Memorial Trophy (rookie of the year) in 1995. * Named to the First All-Star Team in 1994 and 1995. * Won a

(league championship) with the

Denver Grizzlies Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1995 and

in 1996. * Won the N.R. "Bud" Poile Trophy (Playoff MVP) in 1996. NHL * Won the Zane Feldman Trophy–Edmonton Oilers MVP in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. * Ranked third in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Games played - 334 1998–04. * Ranked third in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Win Leaders with - 147 Wins 1998-04. * Ranked second in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Losses Leaders with - 128 Losses 1998-04. * Ranked third in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Goals Against - 796 1998-04. * Ranked third in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Shots Against - 8,455 1998-04. * Ranked third in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Saves - 7,659 1998-04. * Ranked fourth in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Highest Save Percentage (minimum 2,000 shots) - .906 1998-04. * Ranked one in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Shutouts - 23 1998-04. * Ranked third in

-Goalies All-Time NHL Leaders Minutes - 19,564 1998-04. * Single-season Leaders shutouts in a season: 8, (2000–01) 6, (2001–02) Ranked one and fourth in

* Single-season Leaders Games Played in a season: 73, (2000–01) Ranked second in

* Single-season Leaders Wins in a season: 36, (2000–01) Ranked third in

* Single-season Leaders Lowest Goals Against Average (minimum 2,000 minutes) in a season: 2.22, (2001–02) 2.33, (1999–2000) 2.46, (2000–01) Ranked one and second and fifth in

* Single-season Leaders Minutes in a season: 4,364, (2000–01) 4,164, (1999–2000) Ranked one and fourth in

* All-time post-season Leaders Goaltenders Games played 21, (1998–01 2002–03) Ranked fifth in

* All-time post-season Leaders Goaltenders Losses 16, (1998–01 2002–03) Ranked second in

* Played in the

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...

in 2000 and 2002. * NHL

Career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defi ...

Shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

- 37. * Named NHL Player of the Week on March 25, 2002 and March 10, 2003. * Won the

Molson Cup The Molson Cup is an award presented to a distinguished player on Canadian ice hockey teams. After each game, the " three game stars" are selected, usually by a member of the media. At the end of the season, the player with the most three-star ho ...

in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. * NHL-drafted By New York Islanders , 5th round, 14th pick, (118th overall) in

NHL Entry Draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

1993. Elitserien * Won a silver medal with the Frölunda Indians in 2006. * Internally voted as the best Frölunda player 2005/2006. *Frölunda HC ECC 2005/2006 * Best goalkeeper Elitserien 1993. * Elitserien best goalkeeper Save percentage points 1993 - 91.8 * Junior 20-SM-Gold 1990. *

TV-Pucken TV-pucken ( en, the TV puck) is a Swedish national ice hockey tournament for district teams of boys under 15 years of age. Since 2019, girls also compete in TV-pucken with their own tournament. It was created on the initiative of Swedish ice hockey ...

: 1986 * Stora Grabbars Märke number 158. * Elected as number 59 in the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2013.

Records

franchise record; lowest

, career - 2.40 (minimum 4,000 minutes).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salo, Tommy 1971 births Colorado Avalanche players Edmonton Oilers players Frölunda HC players Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Living people Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Modo Hockey players National Hockey League All-Stars New York Islanders draft picks New York Islanders players Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic ice hockey players of Sweden Olympic medalists in ice hockey People from Surahammar Municipality Swedish ice hockey goaltenders Swedish people of Finnish descent VIK Västerås HK players Sportspeople from Västmanland County