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ESPN analyst Barry Melrose will be introduced as the Tampa Bay Lightning's new head coach at a news conference Tuesday.

Melrose has been an ESPN analyst full time since 1996. He had previously worked as a studio analyst for ESPN's Emmy Award-winning 1994 Stanley Cup playoff coverage and for ESPN and ESPN2 during the 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Melrose was the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings from 1992 to '95. In his debut season, his team advanced to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in franchise history.

Melrose began his coaching career in 1987 when he led the Medicine Hat Tigers to the WHL's Memorial Cup Title. He also coached the Seattle Thunderbirds for the 1988-89 season and the Adirondack Red Wings of the American Hockey League for three seasons (1989-92). Melrose guided the Red Wings to the Calder Cup championship in 1991. He also served as the team's general manager during his final two seasons.

The Arizona Republic reported on Monday that Phoenix Coyotes assistant Rick Tocchet will not return to the team but will join Melrose's staff in Tampa. Tocchet, 44, played 18 seasons in the NHL but as a coach was involved in a gambling investigation and left the team for two years.

Monday, the primary investors in a group buying the Lightning said they have no intention of moving the team and will be "shockingly aggressive" in trying to improve the club that finished last in the NHL last season.

Monday's news conference was held to introduce the remaining members of the ownership group led by Oren Koules, a Hollywood producer, and Len Barrie, a one-time NHL player who's now a real estate developer in Canada.

Hollywood producer Mark Burg, attorney and investment banker Russell Belinsky, advertising executive Jordan Zimmerman, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard C. Lehman and Tampa Bay area-based business executives Irwin Novack and Craig Sher are the partners.

Last week, the NHL board of governors unanimously approved the sale to Koules' OK Hockey, which agreed to pay $206 million for the team, the leasehold rights to the St. Pete Times Forum and about 5.5 acres of land adjacent to the downtown arena.

The sale is expected to be finalized by the end of the month.

The Lightning have been owned since 1999 by Palace Sports & Entertainment, a group led by Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson, which helped transform them from a last-place team into the 2004 Stanley Cup champions.

Koules vowed the team will be "staggeringly active" in free agency to acquire players to put around No. 1 draft pick Steve Stamkos and help the Lightning get back on track in a hurry.

"We're not buying something that's broke," Barrie said. "It just needs to be tweaked."

Barrie is confident the Lightning can be competitive despite a budget that won't allow them to spend as much as some other teams.

"If you make good hockey decisions, it isn't always the team that spends the most money. That's been proven over and over again," Barrie said.

"Everyone always comes up and says we want to be like the Detroit Red Wings. We're not going to say that. … Who we want to be is the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, who were last-place teams that turned it around really quickly with smart or shrewd moves, some luck in the draft and the goalie stepping up," he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3457480

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Jerome

the mullet is back

SouthernWebb04

Kind of dissapointed to see him go. He really was a good analyst, and with hockey kind of dwindling, they needed all the personality they could get. He should be able to do great things with Tampa Bay though.

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nyG

I don't expect him to have any success. He's getting a team that is need desperate need of re-building and all he did was inherit a #1 pick and Vinny Lecavalier. Glad he's off SportsCenter finally.

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Canadaleaf

he had a sick mullet back in the day when he coached for the kings i dont exspect him to turn around tb rite away but in a few years from now maybe

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TAMPA, Fla. -- When the Tampa Bay Lightning called, Barry Melrose was eager to listen.

Out of coaching for 13 years, he missed the passion and competition of the NHL. Countless hours of watching games as ESPN's hockey analyst intensified his desire to return to the bench, and it didn't hurt that he'd be able to work with talent such as veteran Vincent Lecavalier and the team's newest No. 1 pick, Steve Stamkos.

"They approached me. I couldn't wait to say yes," Melrose said Tuesday after the Lightning's new owners made the league's worst-kept secret official: The former Los Angeles Kings coach was the choice to replace John Tortorella.

"Watching successful teams, and watching teams that work and watching teams that don't work, it just reinforced what I believe in and how I coached, and the way we're going to play here," Melrose said. "You don't win by accident. You don't lose by accident. There are reasons certain teams win all the time, and there's a reason certain teams lose all the time."

Melrose estimates he watched about 90 percent of Tampa Bay's games on TV last season. What he saw was a team that lost its zest under the hard-driving Tortorella.

Tortorella was fired June 3, four years after leading Tampa Bay to its only Stanley Cup championship. The Lightning missed the playoffs this spring for the first time since 2002, finishing with the league's worst record at 31-42-9.

"I think what happened here is just a group that lost their passion in the second part of the season. That's why you win," Melrose said. "You outwork other teams, you out-want other teams. When you lose that fire and lose that passion, it's very hard to compete in the NHL."

Melrose coached Los Angeles from 1992 to 1995. He helped the Wayne Gretzky-led Kings to the Stanley Cup finals in his first season. He joined ESPN as an analyst in 1996.

Tortorella helped transform a perennial last-place team into a champion. But his demanding, in-your-face style wore on players, especially younger ones, who new owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie believe can benefit by playing for Melrose.

"When you talk to people in the league, the talent is here," Koules said, adding that he's banking on Melrose being someone who can get everyone on the team "pulling in the same direction."

At Tuesday's news conference, Melrose said Phoenix Coyotes assistant Rick Tocchet and former Minnesota Wild center Wes Walz would join his staff.

Tocchet, 44, played 18 seasons in the NHL, but as a coach was involved in a gambling investigation and left the team for two years. Tocchet's contract with Phoenix expires at the end of this month.

Walz retired in 2007 after 13 NHL seasons.

A major priority next season will be improving defensively.

"I believe in effort. I believe in energy. I believe in speed. I believe in aggression. I believe in letting guys be creative, using their imagination," Melrose said.

"I give them a lot of freedom. All I ask in return is that they compete defensively. Most people love playing for me. The guys who don't love playing for me usually don't want being on your team anyway."

Koules and Barrie, the primary investors in a group purchasing the Lightning for $206 million, have vowed to be "shockingly aggressive" in free agency to upgrade the roster and surround Stamkos with players who can help him be successful.

They intend to be hands-on owners, and Melrose said that's OK.

"I'd much rather have people in charge who care, than people in charge who don't care," the coach said.

The decision to hire Melrose was the worst-kept secret in hockey. By the time Tortorella was dismissed June 3, it was a foregone conclusion the job was his.

Gretzky was asked about the expected return last weekend during the NHL draft in Ottawa.

"I think it's wonderful. I think it's a great opportunity for Barry. He's a tremendous coach, and he's a players' coach," Gretzky said.

"And just as important, he understands the media and understands the marketplace that he's in, Tampa Bay. It's not the same as being in a place like Montreal or Toronto. His experience of being in L.A. and dealing with that, this will be a real positive. He'll do a tremendous job."

Melrose is eager to prove he's still got it.

"I'm not a bystander. I've never been a bystander in my life," he said. "I hate to be a guy on the outside looking in. I want to be on the inside again."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3458608

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