Lightning Fire Head Coach Melrose

I apologize for not posting this sooner. The Tampa Bay Lightning announced on Friday that they have fired head coach Barry Melrose. Associate coach Rick Tocchet will replace Melrose as head coach. Under Melrose, the Lightning were 5-7-4. Melrose, who had previously been a hockey analyst with ESPN, was hired by the Lightning as their new head coach on June 24, replacing John Tortorella. The last time Melrose coached in the NHL was during the mid 1990s, during which time he coached the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993. He was fired by the Kings in 1995 after a six-game losing streak. The Lightning's hiring of Melrose was a bit of a surprise, as there were more experienced coaches available when he was hired by the team. It would have been hard to imagine that he would have had a successful season in Tampa Bay for a couple reasons: 1.) he had not coached in any level of hockey over the last 13 years, and 2.) he has no coaching experience under the new, faster paced NHL created by the players' strike in 2004. Right now, it appears that Tocchet will be the new head coach for the foreseeable future, as the team claims they are not searching for a new coach right now. If Tocchet has a successful season, he will more than likely return as Lightning coach next season. If the team cannot pull out of their current slump and struggle the rest of the way through the season, Lightning management will definitely be aggressive in their search for a new head coach next summer.