NHL Personality Don Cherry reveals his surprising take on NHL training camps

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Tom Banks
October 22, 2024 (4:06 PM)

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After plenty of injuries suffered in the pre-season and training camp, former Hockey Night in Canada host Don Cherry has revealed his take on the situation.

The NHL season is completely underway after a red-hot start to the year, but when looking around the league right now, it's hard to ignore the absence of players like Patrik Laine and Drew Doughty among others. That has led to many people calling out the NHL's schedule in the off-season, claiming that there are too many games played in the pre-season, but now, former Hockey Night in Canada host Don Cherry has revealed a different stance as to the reason behind the injuries on his 'grapevine' podcast.

"There's like close to 100 guys on the injured list now in the national holidays, 100, I don't know. Why do you think that is that?" he asked.

There's a difference between being in game shape and practice shape. And how would I say this? You don't push the players too far, or they go, just quit on you," he continued. "I think the training camp is too short. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that they only have three or four days to get ready and they're right into the game. Yeah, they're right into exhibition games."

The complaint from most recent times has been too many games, and while Cherry doesn't contradict that, he takes a different angle in his complaints, stating that there's not enough time for players to get into practice shape before pre-season games begin. Given the length of training camp, Cherry's comments certainly make plenty of sense, as players are thrust right into games before building their bodies back up from the off-season and building chemistry with their linemates.

While Cherry may not be a regular on our TVs anymore, he's still not afraid to speak his mind, and given his latest comments, it's very hard to argue with his stance in this situation.