'Fought until the end': Story of Maple Leafs great Borje Salming told in new series

Valter Skarsgard knew Borje Salming was a big deal.

The Swedish actor, tabbed to play Salming in a retelling of the late Hall of Fame defenceman's life, had heard plenty of stories about his countryman.

The path Salming blazed to the NHL for European players. His relentless, hard-nosed style. His impact on Toronto. The scar.

That knowledge in his back pocket as he prepared to begin work on "Borje: The Journey of a Legend," Skarsgard accompanied the Maple Leafs icon to Toronto.

The 28-year-old quickly realized he didn't understand the half of it until arriving in the city that stole Salming's heart — and where he did the same.

"Still blows my mind," Skarsgard said in an interview with The Canadian Press from Stockholm. "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.'

"This happened to me like 10 times where I'm like, 'I had no idea. It was even more."'

The six-episode series premiering Sunday — available exclusively in Canada on European streaming service Viaplay at Viaplay.com — stars Skarsgard and a cast that features Vancouver's Jason Priestley as Toronto scout Gerry McNamara.

Directed by Amir Chamdin, the story follows Salming's journey from a small, scrappy mining town above the Arctic Circle to the NHL's bright lights, including his relationship with controversial Leafs owner Harold Ballard.

Salming, who died last November at age 71 following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, was involved in the project from the moment Chamdin reached out after seeing a story on the man known as in Toronto as "The King."

WATCH | Legendary Maple Leaf Börje Salming dies at 71:

"Watching him