Barry Melrose, the former Tampa Bay Lightning coach and longtime hockey broadcaster, has died at 70.
For a whole generation of hockey fans, Melrose was impossible to miss. He showed up on ESPN and the early days of ESPN2 in loud suits, with his trademark long hair slicked back, and delivered the kind of energetic commentary that made him one of the most recognizable faces in the sport.
Before he became a fixture in TV studios, Melrose spent 11 years as a player across the WHA, NHL, and AHL. The Montreal Canadiens took him in the second round, and he went on to play 300 NHL games with Winnipeg, Toronto, and Detroit. His coaching path eventually led him to the Los Angeles Kings, where he reached the Stanley Cup Final against the Montreal organization that had drafted him back in 1976.
After the 1994-95 season, Melrose stepped away from the bench in L.A. and moved into broadcasting for the next 25 years. That stretch was interrupted in 2008, when he returned to coaching with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The comeback did not last long. He was dismissed in November, just five months and 16 games into the job.
At the time, the fit made sense on paper. The Lightning were a mess, and the idea was to put a familiar, media-savvy name behind the bench while leaning into an offense built around Vincent Lecavalier, Marty St.
Louis and a young Steven Stamkos. But the whole thing unraveled quickly.
Melrose never seemed to click with the room, even with his reputation as a players’ coach. Tension surfaced early, and that led to several heated meetings between him and the players. Ownership interference only made things worse, and the team’s 5-7-4 start pushed assistant coach Rick Tocchet into the job.
The quote that stuck from that brief run was that Steven Stamkos “is not ready for the NHL”.
Over time, that moment lost some of its sting. ESPN and Disney later getting NHL rights back brought Melrose back into the regular hockey conversation, and even with a little more gray in his hair, the enthusiasm was still there. Not every take landed, but the energy did.
He was a true ambassador of the game and will be missed. Condolences to his family and friends.
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