Don Cherry critical of Johnny Gaudreau's decision.

Last week, star forward Johnny Gaudreau shocked the National Hockey League when he made the decision to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets as an unrestricted free agent. The move was a surprising one for a variety of reasons. Gaudreau's former team, the Calgary Flames, had offered considerably more money and Gaudreau was heavily linked to the Philadelphia Flyers, who were reportedly his destination of choice.

Regardless of what his motivations for choosing the Blue Jackets may have been, it is clear that Gaudreau's decision has not sat well with everyone. We can add veteran NHL analyst Don Cherry's name to that list was well, given that Cherry was pretty ciricital of Gaudreau's decision on his most recent podcast.

"I don't understand Johnny Hockey," said Cherry on the latest episode of his podcast. "Why would he go to Columbus? It's beyond me... I have no idea."

Cherry wondered why the talented winger would not have chosen a more competitive team than the Columbus Blue Jackets as his eventual destination.

"I don't understand it... the only thing I can think of is there's no pressure there," said Cherry.

Cherry would go on to call Gaudreau's competitive drive into question as a result of his decision to sign with the Blue Jackets.

"They are gonna take it easy there, and they'll win, and they will make the playoffs, and that will be it," said Cherry. "But I don't understand it if you're a competitor. Take Gretzky and Orr, I mean they would have never gone there if they had their choice, they wanna win."

Cherry largely credited veteran head coach Darryl Sutter with lighting a fire under Gaudreau this season, and wondered aloud if the Blue Jackets' new star forward would have as much success without the demanding head coach constantly pushing him.

"We'll see how many goals he gets next year," said Cherry with doubt in his voice.