“... Again, the Russians and the foreign people can have their cake and eat it, too. They don’t like it here? ‘Hey, I’ll just…go back to the KHL and grab $77 million!’ And hey, why shouldn’t he? Hey, it’s tax free! So right off the top he’s saving 50 percent.

“So that’s why a lot of people are afraid to draft Russians. They do what they want to do and we cater to them. I’m the only guy that says the truth. You know, they have their cake and eat it, too, and Kovalchuk is just laughing all the way to the bank.”

-Don Cherry on the Kovalchuk retirement. More from Cherry by Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated.

added 11:34am 7/13/13, You can listen to the remarks Cherry made below...