tbl-Barry Melrose, Former Lightning Coach, Passes Away At Age 70

Summary

For hockey fans of a certain age, Barry Melrose was quite literally the face of the NHL. Clad in bold suits, with his iconic long hair brushed back, he would provide exuberant commentary on ESPN and the newly-born ESPN2 on a nightly basis. A former player, coach, and broadcaster, the 70-year-old Melrose passed away on Wednesday. There was no mistaking the love he had for the game. While the broadcaster/analyst career might be the role he played for a few generations of fans, prior to that he had an 11-year playing career that spanned the WHA, NHL, and AHL. The former second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens played 300 games in the NHL with Winnipeg, Toronto, and Detroit before embarking on a coaching career that would culminate with a Stanley Cup appearance behind the bench for the Los Angeles Kings against the Montreal organization that had drafted him back in 1976. He would wrap up his career behind the bench in L.A. following the 1994-95 season and then head for the glamour of the TV studios for the next quarter-century. His time on the TV would be briefly interrupted in 2008, when he returned to coaching as the man in charge of the Tampa Bay Lightning. It wasn’t a long interruption, though. Melrose would be relieved of his duties in November, just five months and 16 games into his tenure. In hindsight, it was a perfect hire for that iteration of the Lightning. The chaos that was OK Hockey needed a media-friendly, recognizable face behind the bench promising a return to an attack-minded offense led by in-their-prime stars Vincent Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis as well as a young kid by the name of Steven Stamkos. And like everything else OK Hockey touched during their ruinous tenure in Tampa, it all fell apart. By all reports Melrose failed to connect with the team despite his reputation as a players’ coach. Reports of locker room tension arose early in the season and led to a few combative meetings between the coach and players. The fact that ownership constantly meddled into hockey affairs didn’t help, and the team’s lackluster 5-7-4 start led to assistant coach Rick Tocchet taking over the coaching duties. The defining quote of Melrose’s time with the Lightning was that Steven Stamkos “is not ready for the NHL”. We’ve already written about the fact that he may have been right from a certain point of view, but the overwhelming sense of the time was that it Melrose who wasn’t ready to return to the NHL. As time wore on, it was water under the bridge, and one of the delightful outcomes of ESPN/Disney reacquiring NHL broadcast rights was the return of Melrose to regular coverage of hockey. His hair may have been a little grayer, but his love of the game remained. We didn’t always agree with his takes or analysis, but we always appreciated the joy he brought to intermissions and hockey segments on ESPN. He was a true ambassador of the game and will be missed. Condolences to his family and friends.