Barry Melrose Fired

[Dobber]

The Lightning have continued their knee-jerk reaction to...pretty much everything by firing coach Barry Melrose.

I say this because the team seems to react to public opinion quickly. To wit:

\"Their team is weak\" - hey, let\'s sign Roberts, Vrbata, Malone and Prospal to go with Stamkos. We\'ll make salary room by trading Boyle.

\"They are weak defensively, now\" - Hey, let\'s trade for Meszaros.

\"Ten games in, and Matt Carle is not doing well\" - Hey, let\'s trade him.

\"Fifteen games in and the team still struggles\" - Whoops! Time for a new coach!

What a bunch of misfits. I\'m a big fan of young, rich, upbeat and involved owners - I think it\'s good for the growth of the game - but get some patience for goodness sake. Rome wasn\'t built in a day.

You knew there would be chemistry problems. I could have told you that it would take 20 games to get their act together, and you can add a couple more games after the Carle trade. This team will never get rolling if Kouleas and Barrie don\'t relax.

I\'m not a big Melrose fan - I\'m indifferent. Actually, I found his hiring a little weird to begin with. But once you put a man in - you have to keep him in with the same team for at least 40 games. If you make a trade partway through that, the clock resets.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see who the new coach is. If they get a good, smart, proven guy like Paul Maurice, the owners may be forced to agree to be more hands off. In which case, there will be a chance that Stamkos goes back to junior. Sure, the ten-game mark has passed (kicking in his entry-level deal), but his 40-game mark has not passed - and that one kicks off the seven-year-pro clause. He\'d be a UFA at 25 if he stays past 40 games.

A new coach will get Lecavalier kickstarted for sure.

Dobber for GM! (Oops, better not say that, the TB owners might actually hire me )

[angus]

John Tortorella is probably a bit smitten right now.

[playmaker26]

Well put Dobber.

Tampa\'s a joke of a franchise right now...it\'s a shame everything has fallen apart over the last few years.

[SeaDawg]

I couldn\'t agree with you more, Dobber. These guys are a bunch of yahoo\'s with more money than hockey sense. They seem to have no direction, make one crazy decision, then try to correct it with another. I don\'t mind a team being aggressive, maybe even controversial with some of their decisions, but a little consistency would go a long way. I just can\'t imagine how disillusioned the players must be right now, especially Lecavalier who signed a long-term contract putting him on this team for life. I wonder if he is regretting that decision about now.

[ridinryan44]

Gotta like this move, now let\'s hope we see St Louis and Lecavalier back to 25 mins a game.. that should get the offense going!

[SirKnight]

I can\'t help but think these words were what set Kouleas and Barrie off, \"Steven Stamkos played under 10 minutes again last night. He was pointless and a minus-1.\"

I was ready to fire Barry after 3 games watching Stamkos warm the end of the bench.

I do agree that Tampa needs to find some true hockey guys to run the team and fast. Dennis Savard is available and he knows how to get kids going...

[Veritas0Aequitas]

Stamkos\' value just rocketed upward.

[repenttokyo]

Charles Wang needs to buy that team and show them how a real NHL franchise should be run.

[glorieux]

Things got fire up at last night game.I heard on RDS that Melrose forgot that Lecavalier was on his beanch.
How can you forget a guy like Lecavalier.If i was coach or whoever would coach this team i would see 20 jerseys no 4.


Buckerooooooooooooooooos

[fargy]

I called this move three days ago, right on this site and I saw that only 4 or five guys even pulled it up. Then Melrose sunk himself by telling the media that he gave the guys a day off because \" they wanted a day away from me.\" Then they were shutout by Florida. Yes I agree with Dobber that this was another knee jerk reaction, but they should never have hired this guy in the first place.

[Capn Jimmy]

repenttokyo wrote:

Charles Wang needs to buy that team and show them how a real NHL franchise should be run.

:laugh: :laugh: +1

[The Comish]

You can bet Rick Tocchet will have the team covering the spread on a nightly basis!:lol:

[angus]

nice one.

[Bighabfan]

Paul Maurice - that\'s a good idea! experienced, competent, and available


and that Tochett thing was priceless comish!

[Flyer Fan]

repenttokyo wrote:

Charles Wang needs to buy that team and show them how a real NHL franchise should be run.

:laugh: It\'s true, only Charles Wang had the insight to recognize the true genius of Mike Milbury


Yashin, Lecavalier, and Stamkos would be a nice 1,2,3 imo too. :cheer: