Not that I was one to pour over the NHL highlights during Barry Melrose’s tenure at ESPN, but I always found the guy rather palatable. Specifically when they’d do those debates about which sport had a better playoff system or something like that, and Barry Melrose would try and say how hockey’s was better than baseball’s, or college basketball’s, or something like that. It was like the little underdog scrapping for some significance; it was nice. I would like to have a beer and finger food with Barry Melrose someday.

And hey, get this: Now that he’s been canned by the Lighting (after an oh so brief tenure) Melrose is now back with ESPN for three years, according to Barry Horn at the Dallas Morning-News. Happy to see he’s back on his feet somewhere.

I look forward to his beautiful hair and accent. That’s if I’m not already asleep before “SportsCenter” starts.

Yeah, yeah, I know he’s been all “coaching hockey” and “being a part of the game” and stuff, but man, I can’t watch Tampa Bay Lightning games. I just can’t do it. The closest I get to seeing the Lightning on TV is when some kid picks them in Xbox Live, which rarely happens. So my response to Barry Melrose being fired is: “If only ESPN still cared about hockey, Barry could go back on TV, and that is good for North America.” It’s true.

Unfortunately, Melrose went a little crazy here. I can’t challenge him on any of his hockey assertions, but Puck Daddy can, and does*:

That said: Melrose just added a new layer of embarrassment to the nadir of his hockey career. What delusion. What forced-cool. What an example of a general blaming his troops and his superiors for losing the war. [...] Barry hangs his hat on the Lightning having the best first-period defense on the NHL. That and a token will get you on the subway. The real issue is goal-scoring, which the Lightning didn’t do. And that’s where Melrose, even if he refuses to self-evaluate this way, was an epic failure.

Sorry, Barry. Go get a facial and some sun, and come back rested, OK? We’re going to need you to be Token Hockey Guy for the next, oh, five months.

*Just a suggestion, but if you’re not reading Greg every day, I don’t know what to tell you. Puck Daddy is so good, it’s making me care about hockey. Get over there. You won’t be let down.