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Melrose Circus Doomed From Start

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 15, 2008

TAMPA - It's possible for a franchise to look more foolish than the Lightning do right now, but then again maybe not. They should abandon the Forum for a circus tent. In the league of serious people, these are the guys with big red noses that honk and squirt water.

Their best defense right now is that they were ridiculously foolish to fire a coach who won a Stanley Cup so they could hire Barry Melrose last summer. You can say that by firing Melrose on Friday just 16 games into his three-year contract, they have kept a bad situation from getting worse. You can also say, man, what a bunch of trigger-happy goobs.

We won't know the answer until we see how the Lightning respond to new coach Rick Tocchet - well, "interim" head coach, which seems an awfully appropriate title, considering how short Melrose's reign lasted. That was a $2 million mistake for the new Bolts owners, to be paid out over three years, along with the $1.3 million they're paying former coach John Tortorella not to coach this season.

We all need to get a job with these people. Next thing you know, the Bolts will be headed to Congress looking for a bailout.

There were valid reasons to make this move, I guess. After spending a bazillion dollars this summer to bring in every offensive player they could tape together, the Bolts have scored the fewest goals in the league. They haven't won much, either.

Most successful organizations put a premium on stability, but the Bolts also have dressed 11 different defensemen and have averaged a transaction per week since the season began. You get the impression these guys are making decisions by throwing darts at a board.

Haven't hit the target yet.

'Philosophical' Differences

Brian Lawton, who is 16 games into his career as a general manager, says this move is on him. He's the one who told Melrose buh-bye. He said (paraphrasing here) it was based on a general feeling that things were screwed up and weren't getting better. One glance at the Bolts' record would tell you that, but Lawton said it ran deeper.

"It has to do philosophically," he said. "I was not happy with the direction of the hockey club."

Ah, the ol' "philosophical differences" gambit. When in doubt, go cerebral.

By the way, if you're curious about the direction this club is headed, look down. Then keep looking. Waaaaay down.

You hear things, rumors and stuff. You hear Vinny Lecavalier wasn't happy with his ice time, and after spending all summer buying billboards with "Seen Stamkos?" on them, it appears Lawton wasn't seeing the Bolts wunderkind Steven Stamkos enough. Lawton wryly pointed out that there were nights Stamkos played seven minutes and nights he played 15.

Stamkos has four points this season, three of which came in one game. He is also 18 years old, 16 games into his NHL career. Sixteen. That number seems to be coming up a lot today.

You can conclude that Melrose wasn't much of a teacher, based on Stamkos' tepid start. Maybe that was the problem - well, one of the problems. But shouldn't that have come up in the job interview?

Oh wait. Lawton wasn't in on the job interview.

Melrose was the choice of new owner Oren Koules, who apparently missed the day in "How To Be A Pro Sports Owner" class when they taught that you hire the general manager first, then the coach.

The GM usually has this thing about being in charge of the hockey stuff and he doesn't like to feel the coach, who is beneath him on the organizational chart, can go running to the owner whenever things get tight. It creates ... oh, what's the word ... tension.

Good Luck; You'll Need It

So, go get 'em Rick Tocchet.

There may be enough talent on this team to salvage the season, or it could just be that it was put together like some bizarre fantasy team that has no chance to succeed. Either way, it's Tocchet's problem now.

For the time being, anyway.

"As it stands right now, Rick is our interim coach," Lawton said. "We'll see what he can do and we'll evaluate our options from there."

Maybe he'll get 17 games. Besides, what's the worst that can happen?

Maybe they pay him not to coach, too.

The good news for Tocchet is, things can't look any worse than they do right now. The bad news is, this ownership group came to town last summer promising all sorts of things. They threw money around. They basically blew up the place. But right now, they look clueless.

If people are laughing out loud at them, these guys have earned that. Whatever honeymoon or credibility they might have left when Barry Melrose walked out the door. They'll have to win that back.

From the looks of things, though, winning anything at all seems to be asking way too much.

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