Despite all the changes Rogers has made with Hockey Night in Canada, one thing has stayed the same: Coach’s Corner with Don Cherry and Ron MacLean. Watching the first segment of the season has confirmed to me that Cherry needs to be removed.
The segment was spent ripping the Toronto Maple Leafs and their lack of Canadians on the roster but the disturbing part was listening to Cherry rip the Leafs for drafting Europeans.
The worst of it came when 2014 Leafs first-rounder William Nylander was destroyed for essentially not being a big tough Canadian. Cherry raved on about how the Leafs should have drafted Canadian Nick Ritchie, who at 6’3″ and 226 pounds (according to hockeyDB.com) is a power forward who can score goals and fight, going two picks after Nylander.
Cherry clearly didn’t know that Nylander is actually Canadian-born and spent much of his youth in North America as his father Michael played out his NHL career (he was born in Calgary while his father was a member of the Flames).
Cherry said on the broadcast the Leafs sent Nylander back to Sweden to save his life. Nylander is 5’11” and 174 pounds (according to hockeyDB.com) so he was sent back to put on weight and get stronger, which isn’t unusual at this age. So what if he doesn’t make the team right away? Ritchie, who has an NHL-ready frame, didn’t make the Anaheim Ducks. Both players are talented but have completely different styles. Only hindsight can tell who will have the better NHL career.
The anti-European rants from Cherry are outdated and hold no weight. Sure, the Los Angeles Kings have a ton of Canadian players on their team but could they have won their most recent Stanley Cup without the contributions from Anze Kopitar (Slovenia), Marian Gaborik (Slovakia) and Slava Voynov (Russia)? Or the Chicago Blackhawks, who have defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya from Sweden and of course Marian Hossa of Slovakia?
Canadians continue to make up about 50% of the NHL, but many teams in the league rely heavily on European born players in some capacity. Detroit certainly leans big time on Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, the New York Rangers with goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, or Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom in Washington. These players are stars. They sell jerseys, are the focal points in marketing campaigns and inspire kids.
Good players can come from anywhere and the game is richer for it. I applaud San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl, who expressed his dislike for Cherry earlier this year saying that he didn’t appreciate being ripped for that fact that he is European and doesn’t like seeing fellows Euros being disrespected.
While hockey is a main component of Canadian culture, it is not just our game anymore. Seeing Team Finland win the 2014 World Junior Hockey Championships and the absolute joy on the kids’ faces who won showed the World Juniors means just as much to them as it does to Canadian kids. Or seeing Team Sweden lose in the gold medal game at 2014 Sochi Olympics and the devastation on the faces of Lundqvist and Erik Karlsson, among others, showed just how saddening it is for them too.
There is no room in hockey for Cherry’s xenophobic views. He is certainly in his right to express his opinion and freedom of speech, but in an age where there are efforts to get minorities into hockey and trying to expand the sport globally, Cherry’s rants are not what the sport needs.
With all of the changes Rogers went through updating Hockey Night in Canada and expanding Sportsnet, Cherry just doesn’t fit in. The dislike for Europeans is just out of line and embarrassing. While it’s nice he is a proud Canadian, Cherry shouldn’t have to rip other nationalities to be one. And that’s why it’s time to take Don Cherry off the air.
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