Don Cherry signs new multi-year deal with Hockey Night in Canada
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Hockey Night in Canada faces changes ahead of the 2016-17 season, but it won't lose its biggest draw.
Don Cherry, the star of Coach's Corner, has agreed to a multi-year deal with Rogers Sportsnet, according to The Canadian Press.
Loved by millions—and hated by millions more—the bluntly outspoken Cherry is undeniably the most iconic figure in Canadian broadcasting. Even at 82, he remains the most vital part of HNIC, the one must-see element of a program that has struggled to find a sweet spot since being taken over by Rogers prior to the 2014-15 season.
It's fair to say that his bombastic style and dogmatic adherence to the code of old-time hockey doesn't hold sway the way it did even 10 years ago. His "I was right" schtick has gotten tired. And his fractured syntax and willful malapropisms madden those who'd prefer a more erudite discussion of the game.
But Cherry dissects the game in a way that speaks to both the guy watching from his couch with a six-pack and the hockey lifer alike. Walk into a bar, or an NHL press box, when his first-intermission segment comes on and the huddle around the television will tell you all you need to know about his standing in the sport.
GALLERY: Don Cherry's Fashion Statements
Don Cherry's Fashion Statements
May 28, 2008
June 19, 2013
Jan. 26, 2013
May 30, 2012
Jan. 29, 2012
June 4, 2011
May 15, 2011
Jan. 18, 2011
Sept. 28, 2010
May 31, 2009
May 30, 2009
May 24, 2008
May 13, 2008
Jan. 1, 2008
June 4, 2007
May 30, 2007
March 31, 2007
Jan. 19, 2005
June 5, 2004
May 31, 2004
May 27, 2004
May 25, 2004
May 11, 2004
May 9, 2004
Sept. 6, 1996
March 6, 1993
You don't have to agree with him, but when Cherry talks, you have to listen. In an era when viral is the currency of the realm, no one in hockey lights up social media the way he can with a single off-the-cuff remark.
There's an element of risk, of course. Cherry has embarrassed the network before and he most certainly will again. But right or wrong, he owns it. And when he has to back down, as he did a couple years back after throwing a trio of former enforcers under the bus, he does it with integrity.
Signing him to the extension then was a no-brainer for Rogers. Now if they're really smart, they'll restore Cherry and his long-time partner Ron MacLean to their former position of prominence on the broadcast.