Melrose Get's A Raw Deal

I was sitting on my couch watching Brokeback Mountain (it's disturbing how much I like that movie) the other day when I went to the ESPN homepage to learn that Barry Melrose had been fired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning just 16 games into the season.

I must admit, my first reaction was to laugh as I have never been a fan of Melrose. Growing up a Red Wings fan, I found it comical how he would insist the Wings' European puck possession style could not win in the NHL and the only way to win in the league was with the old school style of simply hitting and fighting your way to the cup. Melrose played in the Red Wings' system and thought he was next in line to coach them when instead they brought in Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman in 1994 to lead the once proud organization back to glory. Melrose never got over it and has held it against them ever since.

However, after giving it some thought I think Melrose deserved a better fate than what he got. Most in the hockey world thought it was a bit of a weird hire when the Lightning gave him his first coaching gig in 13 years this past July. He was taking over a team just four years removed from winning the Stanley Cup and they made some nice acquisitions to the club in the off season which led many to believe they were trying to make a serious run to win this year. So why bring in a man who hasn't coached in over a decade to attempt to lead them?

16 games is not enough time to legitimately grade a coach. The Lightning were 5-7-4 at the time of the firing. Not a great record, but still just three points out of the playoffs with 66 games to play. This was strictly a difference of philosophy between the ownership/upper management and Melrose. There were rumors that just five games into the season General Manager Brian Lawton was addressing the team during games, cutting the coach's legs out from under him. Captain Vincent Lecavalier was complaining about his ice time, which was down almost three minutes a game from last season, even though Melrose was told at the time of his hire that the organization didn't want Lecavalier playing as much as he did last season in an attempt to try and save his legs for the second half of the year.

My question is this, did Melrose really misrepresent himself that much during the interview process as to what kind of a coach he would be and how he wants his team to play? Did that much change in the four months since he was hired that would lead management to think that the person who is coaching their team is not the same man they interviewed? I find that hard to believe as that would be coaching suicide since nobody would ever want to hire him again....which likely will happen to Melrose anyway. The only other option is that there was a difference in coaching philosophy and style right from the get go, yet the Lighting hired him anyway. If this is the case then the blame falls strictly on the owners. If I want my grass cut one way, but you only cut the grass a different way and I hire you regardless and then complain about the way you cut it, who is to blame? The fact remains that the Lightning set Melrose up to fail. Even Hank Steinbrenner thinks this was cruel......well, maybe not Hank, but his father probably did.

And who does the organization turn to to lead the team for the rest of the season? Assistant coach and amateur bookie Rick Tocchet. Yes, the same Rick Tocchet who was convicted less than two years ago for running numbers in an illegal gambling ring while assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes. He was reinstated to the league less than one year ago and has never been a head coach at any level. I think it's safe to say the new ownership of the Lightning are learning on the job as to how to lead an organization. Either that or they took an Al Davis seminar on how to treat a head coach. Either way, this move works out for them no matter what. Should things turn around, they get all the credit for making the change. Should Tocchet falter and the team falls deeper and deeper into the abyss, they can lay all the blame at Melrose's feet for the failed season.

Two things however are for certain following this move. Barry Melrose will never coach again in the National Hockey League and the people of Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg now have a man running their team they can turn to should they want to lay down a bet.