Lightning fire new coach Barry Melrose

[calloway]

No big surprise here considering the quality of coach and ownership.

Sportsnet has learned that the Tampa Bay Lightning have fired head coach Barry Melrose after only 16 games into his contract, and Rick Tocchet has been named his replacement.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/11/14/lightning_melrose/

 

[stang]

I used to love Melrose's mullet. Classic.

 

[shack]

I've never liked the guy since he showed himself to be such a loudmouth jerk in the year the Kings had their Stanley Cup run. He had no class.

I was hoping he'd crap out in Tampa, but I didn't think would be this fast. It's gonna be hard for him to get back on TV as an "expert" who got fired after 16 games.

 

[dj1470]

Has this guy " Rick Tocchet " sucessfully fullfilled his propation for being part of a gampling ring .... I guess that isn't important in professional sports ..

Huh???

 

[dj1470]

Rick Tocchet faces gambling charges

https://terb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=108407&highlight=Rick+Tocchet

Probation for Tocchet for role in gambling ring

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/NHL/article/247315

Oh

 

[21pro]

no gamble to put Tocchet behind the bench. he's great bench talent- atleast he was as an ass.

 

[ogibowt]

tochett must of set the over/under at nov15 ..lol

 

[RayFinkel]

Remember when he was awaiting sentencing for those illegal gambling charges.

He goes to Vegas to play in the world series of poker.

LMFAO!!!

 

[21pro]

i think Melrose was the gamble the Lightning took.

 

[lovelatinas]

Not playing his superstar Vince enough got him fired. Wanna bet Vinnie gets 20 plus minutes a game now.

 

[new2game]

Also..

..#1 pick Stamkos was averaging only about 12 mins..when the # 7 pick Schenn is playing over 22 mins...I think that is a problem for Tampa Bay. Melrose's style was somewhat like Ron Wilson's.. a hard ass. That works with a youthful limited talent team, but when you've laid out a lot of cash on supposedly quality free agents, it's tough to take that approach, and have the team respond..

N2G

 

[JohnLarue]

..#1 pick Stamkos was averaging only about 12 mins..when the # 7 pick Schenn is playing over 22 mins...I think that is a problem for Tampa Bay. Melrose's style was somewhat like Ron Wilson's.. a hard ass. That works with a youthful limited talent team, but when you've laid out a lot of cash on supposedly quality free agents, it's tough to take that approach, and have the team respond..

N2G

Stamkos is a forward, Schenn is a defenseman. Hardly a fair comparision wrt their ice time
Defence always log more ice time.

 

[new2game]

I think it is a more than fair comparison...

Stamkos is a forward, Schenn is a defenseman. Hardly a fair comparision wrt their ice time
Defence always log more ice time.

...in terms of the amount of confidence the coach has in the player. Wilson has a lot more confidence in letting Schenn log more ice time, at a more difficult position than Melrose did in Stamkos. Watch Stamkos' ice time hit the 20 min point within a few games.


N2G

 

[21pro]

..#1 pick Stamkos was averaging only about 12 mins..

that is actually pretty good ice time for a rookie.
GRABOVSKI of the LEAFS, leads all rookie fwds across the NHL in ice time at 17 mins per game. Stamkos is in the top 10 in rookie FWD ice time.

Crosby avg 12 mins per game in his first 10 games. and also, Jordan Staal only averaged 6 mins/game in his first 30 games.

comparing to Schenn: he's top 4 D-man on the leafs, what would you expect? also, top D-men need more ice time.

IMO, Melrose was fired because the Bolts weren't scoring. Had they averaged greater than 4 goals for per game, they'd be #1 in their division. That is not a coaching issue, really. It could be in certain circumstances (possibly this one)... but IMO again, they won't be much better until they start scoring.

with regards to Stamkos, 12mins per game for a 'natural goal scorer' is plenty of time to show close to or at 1 point per game or the 2 goals in 18 games that he has... guess he's good for a 10 goal season. ouch! for a player that logs more than 30% of his time on the PP, that is awful numbers.

with that being said, I think Stamkos will fit in at the 15-17 minutes per game mark under Tocchet... same as later drafted peer Mikkel Boedker from this years entry draft, who is playing in Phoenix and has 5 goals and 4 assists currently.

 

[slowandeasy]

Has this guy " Rick Tocchet " sucessfully fullfilled his propation for being part of a gampling ring .... I guess that isn't important in professional sports ..

I wonder if Tocchet was part of the pool for when Melrose was going to get fired...