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Melrose Gets Praise From Gretzky

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The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 22, 2008

OTTAWA - One of the worst-kept secrets in all of hockey is expected to be announced, possibly by next week, when Tampa Bay names ESPN analyst Barry Melrose as its coach.

The former Los Angeles Kings bench boss might have last coached in the NHL at the end of the 1995 season, but Melrose received a great endorsement Saturday from one of the best to ever play the game.

"I think it's wonderful. It's a great opportunity for Barry. He's a tremendous coach," said all-time leading scorer Wayne Gretzky, who played under Melrose for the Kings. "He's a player's coach, and just as important he understands the media and he understands the marketplace that he's in at 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 and I think he'll do a tremendous job."

Gretzky, who helped lead the 1993 Kings to the Stanley Cup finals, said Melrose knows how to manage a lineup from the front-line guys to role players.

"He's good to his top players. He plays his top players and Vinny Lecavalier is going to love playing for him," Gretzky said. "And yet he treats his role players with a great deal of respect. He treats those guys just as good as he treats his top players, and I think that's a fine line and it's important because guys who don't play as much, whether it's a sixth defenseman or a fourth-line guy, they need to have that reassurance they are part of the team also.

"That's where Barry's strength is - in dealing with his players. And guys are going to enjoy playing for him. Whether it was myself or Marty McSorely or Kelly Hrudy or Tony Granato, we all had a great deal of respect for him."

MARKHAM THREE: Along with Lightning top pick Steven Stamkos, two other Markham, Ontario, native sons were selected in the top 20 selections of the first round. Two of Stamkos' midget-level teammates from the Markham Waxers selected were Cody Hodgson, 10th overall to Vancouver, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who went 20th overall to the New York Rangers.

"It's just incredible, the three of us to go in the top 20 of the NHL draft," Stamkos said. "We played for five or six years together in Markham. We had our coach Paul Titanic here and just to share that experience with them is unbelievable. We're all good friends off the ice and this is something we are going to be talking about for a long time."

NUTS AND BOLTS: Lightning general manager Jay Feaster said qualifying offers for the team's restricted free agents would likely be sent out by Monday, although he added that some players would not be receiving them, making those players unrestricted free agents July 1. Among the restricted free agents: Karl Stewart, Ryan Craig and Mike Egener.

Erik Erlendsson

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