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“He’s leading the team in points, he’s plus-20, he never gets a shot,” Cherry said. “And what do they do? They bring in a college guy … this guy never paid his dues.”

Brown, on the other hand, has been “doing everything he can.”

Brown had 51 points through 65 games with the Marlies this season. Bailey logged more than 11 minutes of ice time in his NHL debut, against the Florida Panthers at Air Canada Centre on Thursday night. He did not record a point.

This is not the first timeCherry has criticized the Leafs for an alleged preference of U.S. college players over those born and trained in Canada. On Saturday, he appeared to take aim at Toronto’s long-time first line, with Phil Kessel (University of Minnesota), James van Riemsdyk (University of New Hampshire) and Tyler Bozak (University of Denver) all having been trained at a U.S. college.

“This whole organization loves college guys,” Cherry said on Hockey Night in Canada. “Their first line, if you can call it that, are minus over 100. They’ve got to get back to getting some guys like L.A., get some Canadian spirit in there.”