Bunch of Jerks-Don Cherry versus the Hurricanes and the NHL's new culture

BUNCH OF JERKS LEAD IN A NEW ERA FOR THE NHL, REDEFINING THE LEAGUE

Projected onto the ice pregame is the Hurricanes' rallying cry. 

The t-shirts can be found everywhere, regardless of where your allegiances lie in the NHL.
They read "Bunch of Jerks" in big, loud lettering and serve not only as a marketing idea to sell Canes merchandise but also as a symbol for the NHL's shift into a newer, more fun era filled with speed, skill, vibrant personalities, and goal-scoring.

The Carolina Hurricanes came into the season as a team that had some playoff aspirations that were taken seriously by some but not all. They named veteran Justin Williams as their captain and traded for Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton, while also retaining promising forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho, along with drafting Andrei Svechnikov with their first-round selection.

After a win over the New York Islanders, the Hurricanes decided to have a little fun with their fans. The players, led by Williams, began to do something that looked like the Minnesota Vikings' "Skol clap" in celebration. They continued to do it after home wins, each celebration getting more and more elaborate, from the basketball celebration during March Madness to the players throwing t-shirts into the crowd to the players going fishing for their teammates. Throughout the previous year, the Canes' average attendance was 13,320 fans. This year, as the celebrations now known as the 'Storm Surge' went on, average attendance climbed to 14,322. As the Hurricanes, who defeated the defending Stanley Cup Champion and Metropolitan division winners Washington Capitals in seven games and the New York Islanders in a second round sweep, advance in the playoffs (they currently await their Eastern Conference Final opponent, who will be determined by the winner of the Columbus-Boston series), they set new attendance records with numbers in the 19,000s.

The Winter Classic between the Blackhawks and Bruins drew a sellout crowd at Notre Dame stadium. 

Before all of this went on, let's take a step back. The NHL has been growing in popularity for some years now. Since the 2013 season was shortened by a lockout, the attendance has grown in 2013-14 at 21,632,479 people to 22,174,263 people in 2017-18. Events such as the Winter Classic have helped even more people come to games, and those who can't be there in person are watching games on TV. Game 6 between the Sharks and Golden Knights drew the most viewers for a first-round game on NBCSN (excluding Game 7s.) There was a 59% viewership increase from last year's playoffs on these first-round matchups. The average audience of 778,000 viewers is the highest since 2012. Double overtime in Game 7 between the Capitals and the Hurricanes was the highest-viewed first round game on record, with an average viewership of of 1.750 million.

The NHL's previously invisible, boring players who tried to blend in with the crowd are disappearing. Players are becoming more vibrant on the ice, with elaborate goal celebrations from exciting new stars like David Pastrnak, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Nathan MacKinnon as well as electrifying, more established players like Patrick Kane, Alexander Ovechkin, and Steven Stamkos. Players like P.K. Subban and Henrik Lundqvist are establishing themselves on social media. The NHL is not only digging into newer, less traditional hockey markets like Tampa and Vegas, where hockey has been an immediate success, but also rejuvenated franchises like Chicago, Boston, and Toronto, where fanbases are extensive and deeply loyal.  Goal-scoring has increased. Seeing three players hit 100 points in a season was incredible. The NHL had six this year-Nikita Kucherov, who led the way with 128 points, Connor McDavid, Patrick Kane, Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, and Leon Draisaitl. Three players missed out by two points or less (Nathan MacKinnon and Johnny Gaudreau with 99 and Steven Stamkos with 98). Goals per game is up to 6.1, the highest goals per game average since 2005-06. The high-scoring has made games more exciting for the fans to watch and more fun for the players to play.

Games are being run in a way that's more fun for the fans. Pregame presentations have been taken to a whole different level. The Golden Knights' playoff presentations last year were the stuff of legend. Celebrations are getting better and better because the scoring plays are getting better and better. The NHL is becoming a more accessible, more interesting league and it's better because of it.

But as always, some don't like it.

Cherry, in one of his famously outrageous suits, appearing on Hockey Night in Canada. 

Hockey analyst Don Cherry, who runs a segment called Coach's Corner on one of the staples of hockey for a while, Hockey Night in Canada. HNIC is a tradition and a way of life in Canada, and it's always the main event. One night, Cherry went on a fateful rant against the Carolina Storm Surge, calling the Hurricanes a "bunch of jerks", said the celebrations were a "joke" and added "They better not do this in the playoffs." A short while later, the Canes changed their social media bios to "That bunch of jerks with the fun celebrations" and began making t-shirts. They later threw them into the crowd during another one of their postgame win celebrations.
More recently, Cherry accused the Canes fans of being bandwagoners ("front-running fans") and as his partner Ron MacLean asked Cherry if he thought the Canes were a hard team "not to embrace", Cherry asserted that he "Don't embrace nothin!". You can watch the full segment here.

Cherry refuses to embrace the new age of hockey, but that doesn't mean the fans shouldn't either. Enjoy the celebrations and the beautiful goals being scored. Embrace the players that are opening up and get to know them. This is the new NHL, and it's about to take center stage.