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'Excited' Melrose Ready To See What He Has

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 14, 2008

TAMPA - The new-look Lightning hit the ice Tuesday with someone new at almost every key position in the organization, including players such as Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Andrej Meszaros and Olie Kolzig.

The front office also has a new look, with Brian Lawton running the show for new owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie.

But perhaps the biggest name added to the fold is the man behind the bench, longtime ESPN analyst Barry Melrose. The 52-year-old will run his first NHL training camp since 1994, his last season behind the bench with the Los Angeles Kings.

Melrose arrived in Tampa last week to get things lined up for the start of camp, but he took a few minutes to share some thoughts with the Tribune.

It's obviously been a while since you've run a training camp. What are some of the things you have done to get ready for this?

Well, this isn't brain surgery, as much as people want to make it brain surgery. It's getting your group together, it's organization, it's running practice. A lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff has been done by Brian Lawton, and that's by far the most difficult part of a camp. My job is taking care of them when they are here. Once they get done with their medicals and tests, they're mine. The practices are all set up, the times are all set up. We just have to stay away from injuries, find out who can do what, evaluate the skills of some of the guys I don't know. This is what I do, that's what I've done, and I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a blast.

What are your emotions as you get set to kick things off?

I'm very excited. This is my favorite place in the world, being in this building, there's hockey on the television in his office, we're talking hockey. We've got a brand-new weight room and dressing room, the ice is down, you can feel the coldness from the ice. This is my environment, this is where I love to be. There's not any nervousness. I'm just ready to get going, as all coaches are this time of year, as all players are. You just can't wait to get things started.

With only three full days on the ice to practice before the first preseason game, how will you try to incorporate your system and style of play in such a short period of time?

You can't. What we're going to do, the first game in Pittsburgh we are going to have a young lineup, we want to find out something about the kids who will probably be in Norfolk, we want to find out who is going to be a depth guy, so this will be their chance to impress us if they want more games. That's what the first game is going to be all about, so it will be a young lineup. We're not going to worry about setting up a system, we just want to see their skill level, how they compete, what kind of a player they are, things like that. Putting in a system is all going to get done later as we shear down the team and get together as a 21-22 man unit.

How much can fans expect to see Steven Stamkos play in the preseason?

Lots, because he's playing against men now. As great as he was in junior, he's playing against guys who can skate with him now, who are bigger and stronger than him now, so Steven has to learn the speed of the NHL game, he's got to learn to play against men on defense instead of boys on defense, so he'll be in the lineup a lot.

You want a strong defensive structure and puck-possession style, but how much freedom will the forwards have to be creative?

Forwards have all the freedom in the world. I give them all the creativity and imagination they want, I want them to try things, I want them to try to beat a defenseman at the blue line. Guys like Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis, these guys are great offensive players, and I want them with the puck like that. As far as the freedom, I want them to come back and compete in our end, I want them to be good on the wall, I want them to block shots, I want them in the shooting lanes. That's the deal. I'll give them all the creative freedom they want, but they have to make a commitment in our end.

With so many forwards on the camp roster, how difficult will it be to pare that down to 13-14 by the time the season starts, assuming nobody is traded before Oct. 4?

I don't worry about that. I'm going to play the 20 best guys I have. If one of them is a 20-year-old kid without a contract, I don't care, he'll be on the team. Then Brian Lawton will have to do something with the other guys. But we have good guys here, and there will be changes before opening night, that's going to happen. As a coach, I can't worry about that. Yeah, I'm aware of it, and I certainly want to make everybody's job in the front office as simple as possible, but I want the guys to make my job as difficult as possible. I want guys challenging for jobs. I want guys who are penciled in for Norfolk to come in here and try to win a job.

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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