Ron MacLean bombarded with criticism after first weekend of preseason.

The National Hockey League kicked off the preseason over the weekend with several teams from around the league in action on both Saturday and Sunday in what were some pretty solid games all things considered.

Fans seemed to, for the most part, enjoy the games themselves but there was a deluge of criticism directed at one Canadian broadcaster in particular. For one reason or another, long time host of Hockey Night in Canada Ron MacLean would trend on social media over the weekend as fans online made their thoughts on MacLean still being a part of the broadcast heard loud and clear.

It was a veritable bombardment of criticism, with fan after fan seemingly expressing their displeasure with MacLean still being a fixture of the NHL broadcast in Canada. Here are just a few notable examples:

As you can see most of these comments were relatively well received with fans echoing their agreement both in the comments and also by merely liking the original posts.

While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when public opinion turned against MacLeam, it was clear from at least some of the responses that many fans still haven't forgiven MacLean for how he conducted himself in regards to his former friend, Don Cherry.

MacLean of course famously distanced himself from former Coach's Corner co-host Don Cherry after Cherry was unceremoniously fired by Rogers Sportsnet and it seems clear that some fans still have not forgiven him.

MacLean did himself no favors on that front earlier this year when he made a public post celebrating Don Cherry's birthday, only to be publicly rebuked by Cherry's own son.

That being said the deluge of criticism directed at MacLean over the weekend cannot simply be attributed to angry Don Cherry fans, as the sheer volume of that criticism as well as the wording of most of it indicated that the issues were with MacLean himself.

Is Ron MacLean being unfairly targeted? Do you agree with his critics? Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments.