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.

Lightning Bring Back Sully and other Bolts of Info

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning brought back one of the members of the old regime, Mike Sullivan, to return to the role of associate coach with the hockey club. Sullivan was head coach in Boston and was a key member of John Tortorella's staff last season. Sullivan was already being paid the balance of his contract by the Lightning, so it made natural sense to management to bring him back.

"He has the same philosophy," Tocchet told the St. Petersburg Times, "He wants to play a high-tempo game and practice at a really high tempo. He wants guys to be more aggressive on the puck."

"It's easier when you have established relationships," Sullivan explained to the Times, "I went through the process with Brian Lawton and Tocc, and wanted to make sure it was the right fit for both of them. It's important coaches share the same philosophy. It was a fairly smooth process, and here I am."

Sullivan is expected to work on the defense and share some power play coaching duties. Assistant Coach Cap Reader has been re-focused on goaltending and will also contribute in other unspecified capacities throughout the organization.

In other Lightning news, Tampa Bay appears to be getting healthy again. Karri Ramo was sent back to Norfolk, a clear indication that Mike Smith is ready to at least dress. The Times also reports that D Lukas Krajicek may be able to play tonight against the Rangers.

Finally, when watching tonight's game, keep an eye on the Bolts presence in front of the net. Head Coach Rick Tocchet will - in fact, he'll be grading the players on their time in front of the net. He calls it "net presence" and each player will get a rating on how often and how well they created chaos in front of the opposing goaltender. The prevailing belief is those who do well with Net Presence will get more time on the ice. Tocchet is a strong believer in that most goals in the National Hockey League are scored by players standing near, infront of, or by the goaltender.

Rally Falls Short, But Bolts Are Turning it Around

By JC De La Torre

Under former Head Coach Barry Melrose, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked like dead men skating. Under new interim Head Coach Rick Tocchet, the team showed passion, guts, and determination in blistering a Lightning team record 52 shots on goal and rallying from a 3 goal deficit before finally falling to their hated rival Florida Panthers in their albatross - the shootout.

Tampa Bay outshot their opponent in each of the 3 periods for the first time this season, but in the 1st it got them little, as the Panthers Bryan McCabe and David Booth found the back the net for a 2-0 lead. McCabe scored again in the 2nd period on the power play to stake Florida to a 3-0 advantage and seemingly insurmountable lead with stellar Panthers Goalie Tomas Vokoun between the pipes but midway through the 2nd, the game turned. Steven Stamkos, who played a career high 17:55 alternating between the top two lines and leading all Lightning players with 9 shots on the night, drove toward the net, setting up a scoring chance for the snakebit Radim Vrbata. Vrbata finally broke through, depositing the puck to cut the Panthers advantage to 3-1.

The goal energized the Lightning, who dominated the game from that point on. Tampa Bay drew within one on a Gretzky-esque play behind the net, feeding a charging Evgeny Artyukhin who jammed it in to cut the Panthers lead to 1. Defenseman Steve Eminger, acquired in the Matt Carle Philly deal, completed a 3 point night with his first goal as a member of the Tampa Bay Lighting and ended a goal drought of 63 games, tying the game at 3 with a blast from the point with only 2:51 left in the game.

That goal got the Bolts a point in the standings after being blown out (at least on the scoreboard) through the first half of the game. Tomas Vokoun may have been the only reason the Panthers emerged from this one victorious for Florida. Vokoun was outstanding, making 49 saves, including a stick check of Vaclav Prospal who was charging to the net, stopping a last second shot by Mark Recchi wide with a stick. Vokoun also benefited from a little luck, as with three second left in overtime, Paul Ranger's slapper went off the glove of a spralling Panthers defenseman and trickled wide.

Many of Steven Stamkos' minutes were spent alternating between Center and Right Wing on the number one line with Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis.

"I felt like I was in the game," Stamkos told the St. Petersburg Times, "I had a ton of shots and felt great. We dominated them tonight, outshot them and outplayed them in their end. When you're not winning, these games slip by you."

Tocchet agreed but still believed there was a lot to work on, "There were so many good things," Tocchet said, "(On the penalty kill that failed twice against the league's worst power play) We have to start boxing out a little better, The defense has to start taking sticks."

As for their sixth shootout loss, Vokoun was again the difference. After Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier and Jussi Jokinen and Florida's Stephen Weiss failed, Nathan Horton - Lightning Killer extraordinare, deked and found the back of the net past Lightning goalie Mike Smith. Martin St. Louis was stoned on his last chance, giving the Panthers the victory.

Tocchet took responsibility for another failed shootout for the Bolts, telling the Times, "It's probably our fault, we have not practiced penalty shots much this year. It's on my list, trust me, on the top."

"Tocch", as he's called by his players, better hurry as the shootout right now is the difference between Tampa Bay being near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and contending for a playoff spot. If Tampa Bay had just taken 3 of the 6 shootouts they have lost, they would be 8th in the Eastern Conference right now instead of 13th.

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...