Don Cherry. You love him or you hate him. He’s a Canadian icon; an institution, practically. And he’s mostly famous for his unwillingness to censor himself. He’s sensationalist and that’s part of why people enjoy watching him so much.

And the hockey media is all abuzz about Cherry’s recent comments about Alex Ovechkin. But I want to point everyone over to Greg Wyshynski’s post at Puck Daddy about this. Wysh makes some very even-keeled comments about the fact that yes, Ovechkin gets a pass for certain behavior (charging, borderline-boarding). It’s the same way Sidney Crosby gets a pass for a lot of his actions (cheap-shotting someone as the third man in, for example). The superstars of the league always get leeway. End of story.

I like Ovechkin’s enthusiasm. I wish more players would express themselves when they score. But I can see the point, and do agree that Ovechkin’s style can certainly rub the wrong way. Not everyone is on the Washington Capitals bandwagon, and there are bound to be players other than just Crosby who get irritated when Ovechkin celebrates a blowout tally like it’s a double-OT Game 7 goal. I applaud his excitement, but he needs to learn when and where to apply it because I don’t think he realizes that he’s occasionally disrespectful. I believe he’s acting in a polar opposite way of the old Soviet system, where it was more or less frowned upon to celebrate because goals were expected. Ovechkin is just trying his best to smash the mold of the Russian stereotype.

What’s been passed over a bit, is Cherry’s comments absolutely lambasting the entire Detroit Red Wings organization. While praising Mike Ilitch out of one side of his mouth, Cherry insults basically the entire front office from Ken Holland to the scouting staff, and half the team, including Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk.

Cherry makes the ludicrous claim that no one comes to watch Red Wings games anymore because of the “soft” style of European play, and that fans pine for the old days of Probert and Kocer. You mean games like March 26, 1997? You know who actually started that entire melee? Igor Larionov and Peter Forsberg. A Russian and a Swede. Soft Europeans, eh, Grapes?

Oh wait, but that was probably some sort of dirty play by both. Because according to Cherry, the aggressive plays made by Europeans are all dirty. In the above clip, they roll a reel of Datsyuk’s hits during the Detroit/San Jose game. Cherry (and I cringed when I heard McLean complacently agreeing) yells that every single of Datsyuk’s hits were dirty and from behind in the numbers. He’s absolutely blinded by his jingoism and xenophobia. Datsyuk makes a clean hit on a guy who’s turning as they crash into the boards.

I usually tune him out when he says something a little off base, but the absolute filth that Cherry was allowed to spew on national television this weekend was sickening. The distaste in his voice is apparent when he talks about Ovechkin, Datsyuk ,and even Lidstrom.

He actually tried to make the case that Lidstrom isn’t one of the best, most dominant defensemen in the league today–or ever, perhaps–simply because he doesn’t throw many hits. I didn’t realize that they were suddenly awarding the Norris based on hits–Brooks Orpik, come on down.

And I can’t even get into his statement that it’s not the economy that’s causing the empty seats at the Joe. It just makes me disgusted to think about it.

My favorite is Cherry’s comment in the video that Detroit’s talented but no one cares because it’s boring. I seem to recall Sean Avery making an eerily similar comment about how no one cares about Jarome Iginla because he’s boring. Cherry thinks Avery’s a clown. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Tweet