Monday Links, News & Notes: The Final Straw for Don Cherry?

Welcome to this Monday’s edition of links, news & notes. Out of everything that’s happened in the NHL this week, the biggest story has been off the ice with Don Cherry. That and more is discussed below.

• As everyone has probably heard at this point, Don Cherry uttered some pretty xenophobic comments on TV this weekend. Sound familiar? It’s nothing new for Cherry, who for decades has gotten away with various racist, sexist and xenophobic comments live on air — nkb wrote last week about the negative impact Cherry has had on hockey culture, and player safety specifically. But it appears this most recent bout was the final straw for many, with the public calling for Rogers to finally cut bait./

Ron MacLean issued an apology yesterday for being complicit in the moment. The NHL and Sportsnet both issued statements of their own condemning Cherry’s words, although as of now it appears no action will be taken; a familiar feeling when it comes to Cherry. Cherry doubled down on his comments yesterday in an interview with the Toronto Sun.

This isn’t just another case of Cancel Culture taking a victim — this is the public masses finally raising their voices to all the damage Cherry has done during decades of first intermissions. He may still have his core fans, but in this writer’s opinion Sportsnet would be committing a wrong by not intervening in a more meaningful way.

EDIT: Cherry has since been fired by Rogers, per Joe Warmington.

• Anders Nilsson got some love in this morning’s Three Stars for last week, but his performance was so good it earned him the First Star for the whole league. A 3-0-0 record, 1.64 goals-against average, and a .950% save percentage will do that for you!
• Frank Seravelli reported an interesting bit of Sens news last Thursday, stating that the current market price for Jean-Gabriel Pageau is a first round pick plus a prospect. Cutting ties with one of the franchise’s most marketable players would be tough (then again, the Sens have done that a lot recently), but it’s a substantial package for someone of Pageau’s caliber. Should the Sens sell high? It’s still a while until the trade deadline, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Pierre Dorion it’s that he’s not afraid to pull the trigger.
• The NHL announced their Global Series for 2020, with the Boston Bruins playing the Nashville Predators in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets facing off in Helsinki, Finland. The Bruins and Predators will also be taking detours to Germany and Switzerland to play the local professional teams.
• The San Jose Sharks are starting to bounce back, currently on a three game winning streak. Not good news for the Sens who own their first round pick.
• Finally, Thomas Chabot had a Q&A with The Athletic (paywall), where he discussed everything from LeBron James, to Red Lobster, to Colin White’s messiness, to whether a hot dog is a sandwich (spoiler: Chabot’s right, it isn’t)./