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.

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 Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Mats Lindgren and an eighth-round pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft (used to select Radek Martínek).

On March 9, 2004, after six seasons with Edmonton, Salo was traded to the Colorado Avalanche (along with a sixth-round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft) in exchange for Tom Gilbert.

After Modo was eliminated in the playoffs by Färjestad BK,[1] Salo announced his retirement from professional hockey on March 17, 2005, citing chronic hip pain.

[2] 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.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Salo started for Sweden once more and were favourites to win the gold medal, placing first in the round robin.

[4] 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.