Hockey legend Don Cherry doesn't mince words on if Brady Tkachuk should stop fighting

By Abhishek Dilta

Modified Dec 09, 2024 11:16 GMT

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Hockey legend Don Cherry shared his thoughts on whether Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk should stop fighting.

Tkachuk is renowned for his aggressive play style, which includes dropping the gloves, running over opponents and taking penalties. While the intensity and passion Tkachuk brings to the Senators' lineup have their benefits, they also come with drawbacks.

Concerns have been raised about Brady Tkachuk spending more time in the penalty box than on the ice, especially considering his role as the top forward for the Senators.

In response to an article from Ottawa Citizen discussing whether Tkachuk should tone down his fighting, Cherry addressed the issue during a segment of The Don Cherry Grapevine podcast:

"I had the same thing (player fighting a lot) when I was in Boston. Terry O'Reilly. I remember I said, ‘You can't take the teeth out of the tiger’. (O'Reilly would go and fight someone after being told not to) just to spite me. You never, ever tell a guy like Brady Tkachuk to stop fighting."

Sens coach Travis Green also reflected on Tkachuk's emotional play style, suggesting that his passion has contributed to the team's performance in some games, indicating that it can have a positive impact.

“Whatever Brady and I talk about is between Brady and I,” Green said (via Ottawa Citizen). “But he’s an emotional guy. I’m not going to take away his passion and his emotion. We’re going to coach Brady.

"Every player, you coach a bit differently. I’m not going to harness or take away his passion, his emotion. Quite frankly, it might have gotten us back into the game … a bit," he added.

Over the last three seasons, Tkachuk has accumulated over 100 penalty minutes, and, this campaign, has he has already reached the 50 penalty minute mark.

In terms of scoring, Brady is second among the Senators, with 29 points, including 13 goals and 16 assists, in 27 games this season.

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Don Cherry believes Glenn Hall's record is much harder to achieve than Wayne Gretzky's record

Don Cherry reckons Glenn Hall's remarkable feat of playing 552 consecutive games is far more difficult to break than Wayne Gretzky's legendary three 200-point seasons in the NHL.

On The Don Cherry's Grapevine podcast last month, he said:

"That 552 will never, ever be broken," Cherry said (4:00). "They don't even play two in a row. Now, I know that's crazy.

"The Maple Leafs played back-to-back; they played Detroit, and then they played last night again this Sunday morning, last night they played Montreal, and there was no question that they weren't going to do back-to-back playing."