Cherry says he was told he'll be back next season
Don Cherry insists he isn't going anywhere.
The longtime "Coach's Corner" pundit on Hockey Night in Canada attempted to put an end to speculation about his future with a pair of tweets Sunday night, one day after the Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons wrote that Cherry's return to the airwaves next season hadn't yet been confirmed.
1) I must say I am hurt and disappointed that my friend Steve Simmons would suggest in his Sunday column that Hockey Night in Canada might not want me back for next year. I was told a week after the playoffs I would be back.
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) July 8, 2019
2) The question I ask is this… why didn’t my friend Steve phone me and ask me?
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) July 8, 2019
"One thing that hasn't been confirmed for the next season of Hockey Night in Canada: the return of Don Cherry and 'Coach's Corner,'" Simmons wrote Saturday. "Rogers is cutting all over the place, which included the removal of Bob McCown on radio and television and Doug MacLean doing the same. Cherry is handsomely compensated for his work. Not sure if this is a place they want to go with the 85-year-old."
Cherry drew the ire of the Carolina Hurricanes and their fans this past season when he called the team "a bunch of jerks" for doing their "Storm Surge" celebrations. The club adopted the phrase as a rallying cry and T-shirt slogan.
He's appeared alongside Ron MacLean on "Coach's Corner" since 1986.