Don Cherry claims that the people who came for him are now coming for another NHL player

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Josh tupper
February 2, 2023 (1:26 PM)

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Alex Ovechkin has drawn the criticism from a segment of NHL fans. The biggest criticism has been Ovechkin's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and it has drawn Ovi a significant amount of hate. The criticism often centers around Ovechkin's current Instagram photo of himself with the Russian President.

Now an unlikely source is coming to the defense of Ovechkin, in the form of former NHL Coach, Don Cherry. Cherry recently took the time to speak to the Toronto Sun and shared his thoughts on who exactly has come for Ovechkin's head.

He's a hockey player. He has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. None of this is his fault. He's not involved in it.

It's the same crowd that went after me. They don't care about hockey, and it's not about hockey. Alex is a great player and great person, and he deserves better than to be treated like this.

Cherry like many hockey fans believe that player's political views should be removed from the sport completely. Cherry doesn't 'give a damn' about Ovechkin's personal beliefs, he just cares about what occurs on the ice.

It's all about how he is playing and this guy, as he goes for Wayne (Gretzky's) goal scoring record of 894, is playing hard.

Ovechkin hasn't allowed the outside noise to stop him from focusing on breaking Gretzky's record. Ovechkin already has 32 goals on the season and is on pace for another 50 goal campaign. His ability to block out the distractions is one of the reasons that Ovechkin one of the greatest goal scorers of all time.