Dan Carcillo and media call for Don Cherry to be fired over his reaction to the Sabourin incident.

I usually do my best to avoid injecting my opinions into my work, I think approaching sports stories from a relatively neutral perspective is something sorely lacking in today's modern and politically charged media, but in this case I think we can file this one under gross overeations motivated entirely by personal bias. 

On Saturday night there was a horrific incident in the National Hockey League during a matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators. It was an incident that saw gritty Ottawa Senators forward Scott Sabourin leave the ice on a stretcher and as a result it was widely covered and widely viewed even by those who normally find themselves outside of the realm of hockey. Unsurprisingly the vent was also discussed on Coach's Corner between periods where both veteran NHL analysts Don Cherry and Ron MacLean discussed the incident that had taken place only moments before. Although Cherry is never a stranger to controversy his reaction to the incident in question produced a visceral response on social media and even led for many calls for him to be fired and permanently removed from any broadcast featuring NHL games. 

If you happened to miss what caused all the controversy, you can see it in the video below. The video was shared by one of the people calling for Cherry's job, ESPN's very own Keith Olbermann.

As you can see in the video Cherry is seen laughing while discussing the incident that left Sabourin seriously injured, but what I take issue with here is how Cherry's laughter has been characterized. Those calling for Cherry's job have attempted to frame this as Cherry laughing at the injuries to Sabourin himself, but in my opinion that is a ridiculous characterization of what happened, one that says a great deal more about the people making the accusations than it does Don Cherry. Instead Cherry is clearly laughing at Ron MacLean's use of the word "extremities," and at no point does he suggest that what happened to Sabourin is worthy of ridicule, or even hint at anything in that direction.

In fact earlier in this season, after a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Cherry was signing the praises of Sabourin for his willingness to bring his physical game to bear on the Leafs. In fact Cherry even praised Sabourin for seemingly getting under the skin of Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, another highly publicized incident at the start of the regular season.

Lest you think that Olbermann is alone in his ire though, there are also former NHL players calling out the NHL's most notorious curmudgeon, specifically former NHL enforcer Dan Carcillo. Unfortunately for Caricollo I struggle to put much weight into his words here, not only because he echoes the disingenuous sentiment put forth by the aforementioned Olbermann but also due to the fact that Carcillo now seems to attempt to latch on to any and all controversies around the league in an effort to remain relevant or in an effort to promote his book, at least that is the way I see it. 

I want to hear from you guys on this one. Do you think Cherry was laughing at Sabourin? Do you think his laughter was inappropriate given the context? Should he be fired for this incident? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.