Hey Melrose - In the Immortal Words of John Tortorella - SHUT YOUR YAP!

By JC De La Torre

So Barry Melrose went on another tirade against his former employer the Tampa Bay Lightning (again). Apparently Melrose is concerned his name hasn't been mentioned in the press for the last month so he wants to get it back out there while he waits to slink back to the four letter network where hockey is understood about as much as chess. Melrose again said some nasty things about co-owner Len Barrie (without naming names), Rick Tocchet, the players and in particular young Steven Stamkos. I'm not giving him a pass on this one.

Melrose, perhaps trying to explain why he is still whining a month after his dismissal, actually told the St. Petersburg Times, "I'm a name in hockey and Tampa made a big splash with all the stuff they did. When you do that, and when things don't work out, you become a big story."

Folks, there - in the mountain of bullshit that Melrose threw at the Lightning - lies the truth as to why he failed in Tampa Bay. Melrose is an egotistical a-hole. Its obvious. He expected to waltz in with his Conference Championship ring (delivered to him by the Great One) and decades of being an ESPN expert and expected the players to kiss his ass. He expected the ownership to follow his every word and stay out of the hockey side. He expected to never be questioned when he didn't put in a system in training camp, when his hockey team had no idea what they were doing offensively or defensively or when the players stopped playing for him because they knew he was a frickin' joke as a coach.

No, the Lightning have not let the world on fire after Melrose' firing....because they lost a training camp and the first month of the season by making a horrible decision of hiring a guy who had been out of hockey for so long that most of his players' parents barely remember him as a coach.

Melrose continues to harp on interference from ownership and lack of acceptance from the players. Perhaps if he had checked his ego at the door and understood that hockey has changed a lot since the last time he coached he could have taken some input from others in the organization and would have been able to adjust accordingly. Hockey isn't just "throw you're talented guys on the ice, give them a rah-rah speech and it should be enough to win games" anymore. Melrose was never an X's and O's coach and it was painfully evident with the Lightning players because on the ice they appeared hesitant and confused most of the time. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup under John Totorella because they had a system. The Red Wings are the Red Wings not only because they have some of the best players in the world, but because they have a solid SYSTEM that puts those players in the position to succeed. New Jersey has been a Cup contender for a decade not only because of the players that have gone through their complex but the system they play.

"I'm in the TV business now," Melrose told the Times, "I can't say no comment. I'm not going to duck questions. I'm not going to lie. That's one of the things ESPN likes about me. I'm a TV analyst. I have to look at it from a different perspective."

Exactly, Barry - that means you need to be impartial. Right now railing against the Lightning is not objective solid journalism, it's childish "its not my fault" finger pointing. It shows the world why you failed miserably and why you're a fraud as a TV analyst. The truth is Barry Melrose knows little about today's hockey and he doesn't dare admit that or there's no reason for ESPN to have him. Notice none of the Canadian hockey outlets were falling all over themselves to add him to their line up. They know hockey and only misguided ESPN believes he's worth a puck. At least John Tortorella has a gripe against the organization....I mean, he's a Stanley Cup winning coach, the winningest coach in Lightning history and they fired him for THIS CLOWN? Its no wonder Tortorella called them a joke.

To Rick Tocchet's credit, he stood up for the organization, "I wasn't with Barry every day. But I never was in meetings with him where he said they called him and said you have to play certain guys certain minutes. Like any organization, you have discussions about players. … Nobody has got a walkie-talkie saying, 'Hey, Barry, put this guy on the ice.' "

Melrose's attack included a shot at Tocchet, ""The guys in charge decided they wanted to coach. … Now they've got guys in charge who let them do what they want."

"The only reason I'm commenting on this is it was insinuated I was told what to do," Tocchet told the Times, "I'm not a puppet or told what to do by ownership. I'm the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The decisions are made by me as to who is on the ice with the help of my great hockey staff."

If the guys in charge wanted to coach, they would be coaching right now. They don't want to coach, they wanted someone that wanted to be part of an organization, not be Atillah the thickheaded "I know it all" hockey coach.

"I take it personal, to be honest, I'm not a puppet,'' Tocchet told the Tampa Tribune, "Ownership doesn't tell me who to play, they have been very supportive of me, I have a great coaching staff that helps me make decisions and we're making strides now. This is our training camp right now. We're trying to get our systems into place, and we now have a system.''

We won't dignify Melrose's attack on Steven Stamkos or the rest of the players, who are struggling to learn Tocchet's system (hey, how bout that Barry, a SYSTEM) and are fightning their butts off for him every night. Basically, the Lightning are having their second training camp NOW and its going to take some time. What's frustrating is if they could just get a win, that may break the dam of negativity and begin the turn around.

Of course, that would ruin Barry's day, "I hope that Tampa Bay doesn't win a game the rest of the year." Nice. Great way to re-start your career as career as an objective TV anaylst there, Bare.

I know its asking a lot because there's no one in Bristol that knows a thing about hockey (other than what Barry Melrose has told them), but I'm hoping somebody at the four letter network gets a clue that Barry Melrose is a sham.

The best thing Barry can do for himself is take the advice that John Tortorella gave to another coach a few years ago - shut his yap about Tampa Bay. Just give your two or three minutes of "NHL analysis" in the backside of Sportcenter stuck between curling and woman's volleyball and we'll all be better for it.

Signs of Life but still a Loss for Bolts, Melrose whines to HNIC

By JC De La Torre

While former head coach Barry Melrose whined to Hockey Night in Canada, the Tampa Bay Lightning definitely looked feisty and more passionate in the debut of new interim Head Coach Rick Tocchet, unfortunately, the results were the same as Tampa Bay fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout. Tocchet's shorter shifts and reuniting of the MVP (Marty, Vinny, Prospal) line allowed for more scoring chances and kept the Bolts fresh for the 3rd period where they outshot Carolina 8-1, a dramatic turnaround from previous third period performances.

Tampa Bay's scorers were frustrated with their inability to convert on their scoring chances. Three Lightning shots hit goalposts and they were 1-for-6 on the power play including a 4-on-3 power play in overtime in which they had a man advantage for nearly two minutes.

"You get a 4-on-3, you need to score a goal, because then it can to a shootout, and then who knows," Martin St. Louis told the Associated Press, "I take full responsibility. I'm the guy that's out there, and I've got to get the job done, and I didn't."

Tampa Bay jumped to a 2-0 with a goal in the 1st by St. Louis and a power play goal in the 2nd period by Vincent Lecavalier. Carolina came to life in the second half of the 2nd period, getting goals from Wade Brookbank and Rod Brind'Amour. After a scoreless third period and overtime - the game went to a shoot out where Carolina shooters Tuomo Ruutu and Rod Brind'Amour scored on their attempts but Vincent Lecavalier was stoned and Jussi Jokinen hit the post to end it in favor of the Hurricanes.

"It's a step in the right direction," Tocchet said, "I thought the guys played well, I think they're really starting to get what we're trying to do here."

Meanwhile, former Head Coach Barry Melrose did the whine and cheese circuit over the weekend, getting interviewed by Hockey Night in Canada where he complained about the Lightning players not wanting to play for him and controlling the power in the organization.


According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Melrose told HNIC, "I think the players didn't want to play for me. I'm not a guy who sings Kumbaya around the fire. I'll let you know if I'm not happy with you.

"And obviously, a lot of guys didn't like to be held accountable with this team, and obviously, they went to (owners) Oren (Koules) and Len (Barrie) and said they don't like this style of coaching and 'would you get rid of him.' I don't think there was any secret about that."

True enough, there are rumors to that effect, which we discussed last week when we covered the dismissal of Melrose. But Melrose took it to the extreme, stating "the players have the power in the organization" and that they "exercised that power" with his firing.

"Now they can play who they want and how much they want and when they want and (not) demand a lot of them," he said. "Everybody's happy in Tampa right now."

This has not been mentioned in the rumors behind the termination of Melrose. While the players, it appears, definitely went to management asking for Melrose's head - its ultimately the owners Koules and Barry as well as Brian Lawton who ultimately made that call. I don't think there's any doubt who's in charge of the hockey organization and its not the players - as evidenced by the revolving door at the St. Pete Times forum.

For the record, Koules texted the St. Pete Times stating that Melrose comments were "absolutely not true".

So while one overmatched coach whines on National Television, there were glimmers of hope that the Lightning in the Tocchet era could be much more passionate and competitive than they were under Melrose. Now if only they'd stop hitting goalposts...

Melrose Place No More - Players Revolt Against Barry

By JC De La Torre


The Tampa Bay Lightning fired Head Coach Barry Melrose today and elevated assistant Rick Tocchet as Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season. Melrose lasted only 16 games in his return to the league after a 13 yr hiatus, and rumors are rampant on the Tampa Bay airwaves that the players went to management to get Melrose dismissed.

When Tampa Bay owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie purchased the Lightning and promised big changes in the way the organization approached the game, many Lightning fans were excited. The new owners brought an aggressive, hand-on ownership style that had never been see here before. But when they chose Barry Melrose to succeed John Tortorella, more than a few eyebrows were raised. Several league insiders felt that Melrose had been out of the game too long and could not relate to players the way he did back in the mullet days.

It proved out to be true in more ways than one. Rumors on 620 WDAE-Tampa Bay and other media outlets are stating that the players did not respect Melrose, they didn't believe he had a strong grasp of today's game and he had an ego the size of Canada. Melrose demanded things from the players, but the actions were not recipocated, as players wishes were not met - contributing to an advesarial relationship in the locker room. Further, it wasn't just one player or a group of players that didn't get along with Melrose - but apparently the entire hockey club failed to respond to him.

You've seen me blog here several times about how the hockey team just seemed to not care on the ice, didn't try hard, and perhaps lost some of its heart. Can that be attributed to the disfunctional relationship with their Head Coach? It definitely seems that way.

Melrose was interviewed on ESPNews shortly after his dismissal, and stated that he "was brought in to change the culture of the team." To me, that was his issue. He wasn't being brought in the change the culture - this team won a Stanley Cup. The fans in Tampa Bay are all transplants from Canada, the Midwest, and the Northeast. The writers covering the sport and the personalities on the radio all have covered hockey for decades. No matter how much of a lack of understanding those in Canada have of our community in Tampa Bay, we know hockey here. The Tampa Bay organization didn't need a culture change - they needed a new voice, new leadership that would bring them back to the top of the NHL. Melrose didn't provide that, demanding respect from a group of players when he really needed to earn and prove that the game hadn't passed him by. Melrose told ESPNews, "I never understood that its difficult to get million dollar players to play 60 minutes every night." No Barry, its hard to get them to buy what your cooking when they know you have no idea what you're doing.

Rick Tocchet at least has been in the game for 25 yrs and has seen the evolution of hockey to the players of today.

From the Lightning release -
http://lightning.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=392428

"Shortly after retiring in 2002, Tocchet joined the Colorado Avalanche as an assistant coach. He spent a season and a half on the bench with the Avalanche before joining former teammate Wayne Gretzky as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2005. He was named associate coach of the Lightning on July 9, 2008.

Tocchet is one of two players in the history of the NHL to record 400 goals or more and at least 2,500 penalty minutes. He recorded three 40-goal seasons, two 30-goal seasons and was an 11-time 20-goal scorer. In 1992-93 he set career highs for goals with 48, assists with 61 and points with 109 with the Penguins. Internationally, Tocchet represented Canada at the 1990 and 1991 World Championship as well as in the 1987 and 1991 Canada Cup tournaments. The Scarborough, Ontario native won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992 and appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals with Philadelphia in 1987.

He was selected to four NHL All-Star teams (1989, 1990, 1991, 1993). Originally drafted by Philadelphia in the sixth-round, 125th overall, at the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, Tocchet began his career with the Flyers in 1984-85 and retired midway through the 2001-02 season, also with Philadelphia."

I was one of those who said "Barry freaking Melrose?" when the Lightning announced the hiring. I feel tremendously better about Tocchet being able to reach this team more than Melrose ever could. While I question OK Hockey's decision to hire Melrose in the first place, I applaud their gutty decision to admit they blew it and hopefully salvage this season. The players got their wish, Melrose is gone - now its up to them to prove that the decision is the right one.

Melrose leaves Tampa Bay with a 5-7-4 record.