Melrose Fired!
The Barry Melrose era in Tampa Bay has officially ended just two months into this young NHL season.
The Tampa Bay Lightning officially annouced the firing (relieved) Barry Melrose of his head coaching responsibilities and named assissant coach Rick Tocchet the new interim head coach.
Many questioned the move of hiring Melrose who hadn't sat behind an NHL bench in over a decade, and the results of a 5-7-4 start have apparently proved the critics right. Tampa GM Brian Lawton (who may also draw criticisms soon as a first time NHL General Manager) found the current state of the team unacceptable and chose to remove his head coach.
Rumors are abound that Melrose was tough on the veterans, and perhaps a back-door mutiny occurred? I wonder if they think Tocchet will be any easier on them?
I bet not!
Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh
Comments
I absolutely blame the GM. How many times have we seen that you can't buy your way through the rebuilding process? If your team is last one year, you either make trades and get younger (a la Philly prior to last season) or simply suck it up and improve from withing by promoting your own young guys.
I thought at the end of last season Tampa was doing the right stuff. They got Mike Smith and moved guys like Prospal and Richards. You still have Lecavlier and St. Louis to build your YOUNG team around. But that went out the window the second the free agency season opened this summer and now they're paying for it. And they really should've kept Dan Boyle.
All I can say is good luck Tocchet. You're going to need it.
Posted by: Stache | November 15, 2008 10:17 AM
Man, I would have liked to have seen melrose succeed...but why wasn't he playing Stamkos? The Lightning built their publicity around the guy, and by all accounts he's a fantastic player, so why didn't he get the ice time?
Maybe we'll get the melrose line back on ESPN?
Posted by: jeff | November 16, 2008 07:43 AM
Here's a pretty revealing interview with Melrose where he talks about getting fired and mentions the whole ice time issue. He sounds kind of bitter, but at the same time he also sounds pretty credible to me. Bottom line is you gotta win though. Excuses wont' change that fact.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Barry-Melrose-s-defiant-delusional-exit-;_ylt=Ag3xzdZyZmMLIBKtqNnmcL57vLYF?urn=nhl,122467
Posted by: Stache | November 17, 2008 06:33 AM