Don Cherry strikes back at Brian Burke, the continuing saga

The latest edition of the Burke v. Cherry feud was on Coaches Corner this evening. It got down right silly too. Tonight Cherry criticized Burke for not having any Ontario-born players on the Leafs. He seemed to suggest, as many do, that Burke has an American bias.

Well back in the fall I reviewd the Leafs' 50-man reserve list to determine if the allegation of an American bias was true. It is not. The breakdown is:

Canadian - 56%
American - 24%
Others - 20%

Last season the breakdown by nationality in the NHL was:

Canadian - 54.6%
American - 24.1%
Others - 21.3%

There are 28 Canadians on the Leafs' reserve list. Now Cherry is no dumby. He knows that the Leafs current roster is loaded with players from Saskatchewan and Alberta so he calls out Burke for having no players from Ontario. And had there been some players from Ontario I'm sure he would have then criticized Burke for not having players from Toronto or maybe Kingston. These arguments are silly. The NHL is an international league and you go after the best players.

There is no anti-Canadian bias in Toronto. Incidently there are Ontario boys on the Marlies including Nazem Kadri, Jesse Blacker, Mike Zigomais, Richard Greenop, Ryan Hamilton and Simon Gysbers. Prospects David Broll, Sam Carrick, Andrew Crescenzi, Jamie Devane, Josh Leivo, Greg McKegg and Stuart Percy are all from Ontario.

Leave it to Cherry to wrap himself with the flag to win an argument.