tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Burke – Cherry Feud

Last Saturday, Don Cherry lit into Maple Leafs President and General Manager Brian Burke on his Coach's Corner segment. That in and of itself is Cherry's perogative as a broadcaster. If Cherry wanted to criticize Burke for his free agent signings, trades, not removing Ron Wilson sooner or the team's recent tailspin, that's fine. I might not agree with some of it but they are legitimate points for discussion. I can also understand if Cherry wanted to go off on Burke for the Leaf GM going to CBC and complaining about Coach's Corner. However, Cherry's rant that not having enough players from Ontario is the reason for the lack of the Leafs' success and Burke should be held responsible for that is ridiculous.

Cherry has turned himself into the hockey version of Rush Limbaugh. His jingoistic flag-waving nonsense has gone way over the top. The truth be told, Brian Burke has drafted more players from Ontario than John Ferguson Jr. Cherry's view represents that held by some in Toronto who have had a hard time with Burke being an American when the truth be told that most of Leaf Nation could care less where a player is from as long as they play hard and give the Leafs a chance to win. Cherry, like Limbaugh, plays to the over-the-top crowd that loves to point fingers at anyone who is different and use that to explain all of the problems that they face. In this case, Cherry is saying that the Leafs are failing because there are too many non-Ontario players on the roster and too many American college and American born players.

I have said this before and I will say it again: Brian Burke has done a tremendous job in building the team's farm system and making the Leafs younger. There is plenty of potential and certainly the expectation is that some of these kids, like Joe Colborne, Nazem Kadri, Korbinian Holzer and Jesse Blacker, will be ready to make significant contributions next season. (By the way, Kadri and Blacker are from Ontario) This is why I agreed with Burke in not wanting to mortgage the future to get Rick Nash. Leaf management has done this in the past: think Owen Nolan and Tom Kurvers.

Where Burke has faltered is with the acquisition of free agents. The signing of Tim Connolly last summer is the most recent example. Some in the Toronto media have criticized Burke for not bringing in Ontario born free agents, citing the last most significant Ontario-born free agent being Curtis Joseph. I have a problem with this for two reasons. First, there was no salary cap when Joseph was signed. The Leafs have unlimited resources which allowed them to have a payroll as high as they wanted. However, those days are over. Secondly, it takes two to dance and I didn't see Rick Nash, Steven Stamkos or John Tavares allow themselves to hit the open market. They all re-signed with their current clubs before they hit the free agency. Does one honestly think that Burke would not have gone after any one of those three if they had hit the open market? Even Steve Ott, who praised Cherry's rant for sticking up for Ontario-born players, stated that he didn't want to to be traded and loved living in Dallas.

With the team's playoff chances all but over for this season, there is no doubt that next season will be a critical one for Burke and Company. I honestly believe that this team is very close to being a top 8 team in the East on a regular basis. They will need to straighten out the goaltending situation but I feel that the hiring of Randy Carlyle is a positive in making this team better defensively which should help the goaltending. I also believe that James Reimer can be an NHL starting goaltender but the Leafs need to bring in a veteran to help carry the load.

As for Cherry, it's really a shame. I have always enjoyed Coach's Corner but over the last several years I have found myself switching channels during that segment because of the nonsense that was being spewed. Cherry has turned himself into a windbag and it is unfortunate because on some issues (such as no-touch icing and equipment) he is right on the money. He has hurt his own credibility and it appears that no one is big enough to tell him so. Unfortunate indeed.