Lightning fire Barry Melrose

Soccer coaches don't do much because nothing ever happens in soccer.

Coaches are always at the mercy of player performances, but hockey coaches do a lot. It's the one sport where personnel changes are made while the game is in progress. You're able to match defense to offense more easily than you can in other sports.

The Penguins of the late '80s were missing the playoffs with a boatload of talent. Bob Johnson got there, established some order and they won the Stanley Cup.

 

For the record. I like hockey. I have covered it. However, firing a coach who hadn't been a coach for about 12 years after such a short return stint in an area of the country where you are trying to establish a fan base, isn't a great move. But I'm not the one paying his salary. I'm just voicing my opinion.

 

And the award for most ignorant statement of the day goes to ...

 

I just wonder if he had lost the locker room already, and that's why the change was made.

Don't know, just surmising.

 

I think that one is obvious Cap. My question is HOW can you lose a team so early in the season? Also, I wonder if Tochett may have undermined him. Just wondering.

 

Hopefully you're not covering it now with opinions like that.
Maybe having people like you cover hockey is part of the problem.
The move is ridiculous, I think everbody agrees but to say that it is one of the reasons Americans don't like hockey is insane.

 

There's also less ice in the U.S.

Pond hockey in Florida, Texas or 26 other states I could name off the top of my head? It's as much to do with climate as economics. A pair of skates, a stick and a puck is all you really need, and if you buy the skates second-hand it's inexpensive.

 

Thinking back to the opener in Prague, Melrose made comments to the effect that his best players needed to learn when to carry the puck into the offensive zone and when to dump it in; he also suggested that the Lightning needed to learn how to play hard every night. Could he have lost them during training camp and preseason?

 

Yep, that takes the cake, no doubt.

And yeah, seems juuuuuuust a bit early for a firing.

 

What's weird to me is this: Hockey is really popular in my Texas city. In fact, behind football, it is the second most popular sport. They have a couple of hockey rinks and a thriving youth league.

 

Can you honestly say you're surprised at soccer slander on SportsJournalists.com?

 

Is your Texas city affluent? I mean, yay, but I just don't see how the sport gets to be popular down there. Maybe I don't give plain old street hockey as much credit as I should.