Few people have been around the NHL as long as Don Cherry has. He was a successful coach for the Boston Bruins in the 1970s, leading them to four division titles and two appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals. But he’s most known for his work on TV and as the co-host of the Coach’s Corner, a segment aired during Hockey Night in Canada.
He was fired from the show in 2019, but not long after, he returned with a Podcast called ’Grapevine.’
Earlier this week, the podcast came back for a new season. In it, Cherry shares his thoughts on current events and hot topics. In the first episode of the season, Cherry furiously called out the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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This offseason, the Maple Leafs made the controversial decision to strip John Tavares of the captaincy and instead give it to Auston Matthews. And Don Cherry wasn’t a big fan of the move.
”It is a slap in the face, I don’t care what anybody says,” Cherry said in his podcast, per Yardbarker.
”To take the captaincy off of one player and give it to another, there’s something wrong somewhere.”
Cherry claimed that the Maple Leafs could still have a great season. But he finished things of saying:
”It’s all up to Matthews now.”
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Don Cherry has made himself known for always defending Canadian players throughout his media career, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he calls out the Leafs for stripping the captaincy off a Canadian player and giving it to a player from the US.
After scoring 69 goals last season, Matthews has started the 2024-25 campaign slow, with zero goals and zero points through three games.
