Cherry’s anti-burke rant about lack of Ontario players on Leafs just silly

No chance I’m getting in the middle of this Don Cherry-brian Burke spat. Got my own wars to wage.

But let’s get off this silliness about the Leafs not having enough players from Ontario. I mean seriously, people, how small do we want to get. Should Willowdale be outraged until a boy from that GTA quadrant is on the Leafs?

I suppose you could, if you were so inclined, be bothered if the Leafs had no Canadian player. But is Luke Schenn not Canadian enough, not homegrown as much as a kid from Haliburton would be? This is just the old xenophobia heard weekly on Saturday night squeezed a little tighter.

The point is, be upset if you wish about the quality of Burke’s team. You have reason to be. But discussing the nationality of the players or coaches or executives is so irrelevant as to only be necessary for use as a straw man in an absurd debate.

Burke and Cherry are squabbling, and perhaps each man has a reasonable grievance. But to suggest this is seriously about whether the Leafs have Ontario-born players is to completely misunderstand that which is going on.

By the way, the Leafs took a player from the GTA in the first round of the NHL draft last summer. And when Burke won the Cup in Anaheim, the vast majority of players were Canadians.

You may dislike the guy or his managerial style. But he’s not out to make the Leafs into Team America. He’s just trying to win.

I’m pretty sure if the Leafs had no Ontarians and were in first place nothing would be said. That said, just saying the team would be better now if it had more Ontarians is as ridiculous as claiming Phil Kessel would be more successful if he just shot left-handed.

You know, like Bobby Orr did.