Gregory was a pioneer among general managers in North America, as the base of the Toronto Maple Leafs was one of the first to import European ice hockey talents to the NHL.

The most famous: Börje Salming from Sweden.

Salming, now 68 years old, mourns Gregory, whom he describes as a second father.

- People don't understand. In 1973 I came to a new country, a new league, a new city, a new culture, a new language, everything was new. And he was always there for me. I'm not sure I would have done it without him, Salming tells nhl.com.

- I love that man.

He especially remembers one event during the start of his NHL career.

- It was one of the first times I would go home after coming to the "Leafs". I wanted to bring some souvenirs home to Sweden and he just sent me down to the room where all the match shirts and such things were and said "take what you want". I was so far from home. And he did everything he could to make Toronto feel like my second home, says Börje Salming.

Jim Gregory was Toronto's general manager from 1969 to 1979, then stepped into the NHL's organization where he remained for four decades. Among other things, he chaired the Election Committee in the Ice Hockey Hall of Fame 1998–2014. He was himself elected to the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Jim Gregory turned 83 years old.

Archive: Börje Salming talks about the most brutal era in the NHL in "The Hockey History":

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