L.A.’s Drew Doughty, left, and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews play during Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on June 6, 2013. For this season, the oddsmakers have Chicago opening as a 6-1 pick; L.A. is next at 15-2.Reed Saxon/The Associated Press
Don Cherry thinks there was someone more deserving of this year's Lou Marsh trophy than Olympic bobsled champion Kaillie Humphries.
The hockey commentator used his segment of Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday to argue that the award, given annually to Canada's top athlete, should have gone to Los Angeles Kings defencemen Drew Doughty instead.
"Here's the deal, Kaillie Humphries, good luck to her, congratulations and everything, but you're telling me Drew Doughty shouldn't have got the Lou Marsh trophy?" Cherry said. "He went through two months ... and he was the guy, let's face it. L.A. won the Cup, he was the guy. Then he goes over and was absolutely fantastic when (the Canadian men's hockey team) won the gold in the Olympics."
The 29-year-old Humphries became the first female in her sport to win back-to-back Olympic gold when she captured her second title in Sochi. The Calgary native also carried Canada's flag along with brakeman Heather Moyse into the closing ceremonies in Russia.
A month earlier, Humphries had claimed her second consecutive overall World Cup title for Canada.
But Cherry believes that Doughty — who's from London, Ont. — accomplished more in 2014.
"Everybody knows the most important thing in the Olympics is the hockey," Cherry said. "It's come to the point now, no hockey player can ever win the Lou Marsh trophy from here on in because you can't do any more than he did — he did the Stanley Cup and the Olympic gold medal.
"Kaillie, I love you, but you shouldn't have done it."
Humphries is the first bobsledder to win the Lou Marsh trophy, which is voted upon by representatives of Canada's leading news organizations. The vote was announced last Thursday.
She will be piloting a Canadian four-man team in what would have been the men's competition on the World Cup circuit this season. Humphries has long lobbied for the chance to race against men, and the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation decided this year to make the four-man event gender neutral.
Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was the last hockey player to win the Lou Marsh, taking the award in 2009, when Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup. Crosby also won in 2007.
Hockey great Wayne Gretzky has won the trophy four times, more than any other athlete. The sport of hockey has the most Lou Marsh wins, with 12 players earning the trophy. Figure skating is the next closest sport, with nine.