Melrose Place
ESPN analyst says the NHL will leave the Olympics after 2010 in Vancouver.

After OLN wrested away the NHL U.S. television rights, Melrose was a man without a country. With the likelihood that NHL coverage would be pared down at ESPN, Melrose remained loyal to the network and re-signed without ever speaking to OLN. We spoke with him at his home in Glen Falls, NY about a number of hot button topics in today's NHL. 

THE TIRED ONE?

To say Wayne Gretzky has had a rough couple of months is an understatement. Melrose thinks that despite Canada's mediocre performance in Turin, it won't deter Gretzky from stepping away from a role he relishes. 

"It's been a hellish time for Gretz," Melrose said. "The Coyotes are playing poor, the gambling allegations and then the loss in the Olympics. You forget he lost his mother and grandmother recently, as well. I think he'll step back and evaluate the situation, but I'd be very surprised if he wasn't the General Manager (of the Canadian Olympic Team) in Vancouver. And I believe it will be the last time (2010 Olympics) that the NHL will be involved."

More on the NHL's involvement in the Olympics later, but Melrose thinks that he will relinquish the role of bench coach for Phoenix. 

"I'm not sure that he'll remain (in that role)," he said. "It's been very tough (as Phoenix doesn't look to make the post season) but he says he loves coaching. It does take him away from his family a lot; I think it's 50-50 that he's behind the bench next season."

We wondered that given Gretzky's great pride in all that he does connected with the game, perhaps he put too much on his plate for one season. 

Melrose points to another personality characteristic that may have led to the current state of affairs. 

"He's a very competitive individual. He wants to win; he wants to make Phoenix the best franchise in the league and he wanted to win the Gold Medal," Melrose said. "I think that he enjoys being around the game again and coaching is the closest way to get to it. His competitive nature makes all this so hard on him." 

And while Gretzky has always seemed unflappable, Melrose reminds us of the pressure that went along with striving for Olympic gold. 

"The pressure is unbelievable to win the Olympics for Canada, if you combined the interest in the top three sports in the US, that's how important hockey is in Canada. If the Canadians didn't win any other medals other than the men's hockey gold, the Olympic effort would be deemed a success." 

TURIN TUMULT

While the Olympics did get additional television viewers reintroduced to the NHL on a broader scale, Melrose thinks the indirect costs far outweigh the direct benefit of the tournament. 

"I'd be very surprised if the NHL participated after 2010 in Vancouver," Melrose exclaimed. "The other night alone, the Canucks played without their best two defenseman (Mattias Ohlund and Ed Jovanovski), the Kings played without (Pavol) Demitra and (Alexander) Frolov, the Flyers played without (Simon) Gagne and who knows when (Dominik) Hasek will come back to the Ottawa, all because of injuries occurred in Turin. 

"It's crazy because the players had to fly back and forth to Europe and now are in the midst of playing 25 games in 50 days, so you know there's going to be MORE injuries because players are playing tired." 

In one of the more highly publicized outbursts by an NHL veteran, he doesn't think Dallas' Mike Modano was in the wrong when he criticized how Team USA handled players' travel arrangements. Melrose thinks the issue at hand wasn't about travel accommodations but more about how the player wasn't accommodated on ice. 

"I think Mike was frustrated with the fact that he's no longer a go-to guy for Team USA. Certainly, Team USA could have handled (administrative) things a little better but they didn't expect the biggest blizzard in 50 years to affect the travel," Melrose observed. 

"When the USA needed a goal with a couple minutes to go, neither Mike nor Billy Guerin were on the ice. As far as travel arrangements go, that had nothing to do with winning and losing. Look at Canada, they went to Turin first class all the way and it didn't help them. I think in a couple of weeks Mike will regret those comments." 

NET GAINS AND LOSSES

The Olympics did bring more clarity regarding goaltending situations for a number of contenders. The Rangers, Flyers and Hurricanes can be heartened by the stellar play of their European netminders over the fortnight in Italy. Taking the other side of the coin, Melrose thinks that a major Western Conference contender should be concerned. 

"Don't forget how poorly (Nashville's) Tomas Vokoun played," he pointed out. "He played terrible; the guy got pulled in favor of Milan Hlnicka (no longer in the NHL). Remember in the last Olympics what happened to Tommy Salo (when he played poorly) and I think David Aebischer's play will keep Colorado from looking for a goaltender. Carolina has loved (Martin) Gerber all year long and loves him more now." 

As it seems every year, intrigue always exists in Philadelphia.

"That’s going to be interesting because (Robert) Esche has been hurt all year and if the team gets healthy, they have to decide if (Antero) Nittymaki and Esche are strong enough to carry them through the playoffs. But I think Philly goes after a goaltender if one is available."

As for the East's surprise team, he thinks the Atlantic Division leading New York Rangers are solid with Goal Medalist Henrik Lunqvist. 

"He's played in international competition before the Olympics," Melrose said. "Arguably, for a European, the Olympic Gold Medal game is the biggest game he will ever play. One of the knocks on Europeans is that they care more about the Olympics and World Championships than the Stanley Cup. So he's not going to play in any more pressure than he just and I think the Rangers are comfortable with Lunqvist and (Kevin) Weekes, so I don't think they're going to get a goaltender."

GIVING UP THE DREAM

If Melrose has to bet a loon on who would make it back to the NHL coaching ranks, either Ted Nolan or himself, he'd wager on the former Buffalo coach. 

While sounding resolute about ever coaching at the NHL level again, he hasn't closed the door completely. 

"I'm not going to do like Ted did, go back to Moncton (of the QMJHL) and try that route," Melrose said. "I don't want to move around my family by going to the juniors or the minors. I've done that once already and I'm not going to do it again. I've been out of the league for a long time and I'm not aggressive like Ted is, seeking out jobs. I'd like to coach again, if someone came to me and said 'you're the perfect coach for the team we have' and sure, I'd look at that."

LIFE AT THE MOTHERSHIP

As the singular face of the NHL on ESPN, he's actually become a bigger fish in a far smaller pond. Melrose greatly misses NHL2Night, arguably the best presentation of a nightly recap show in the history of the league. 

"I miss it tremendously, every hockey fan misses it," he said. "Every show you had humor, great features and the highlights of every game packed into 30 minutes." 

While others like Bill Clement and Ray Ferrraro jumped to OLN/NBC, Melrose never spoke to the fledgling network. 

"When ESPN lost the NHL, the network executives came to me and asked me if I want to stay because they wanted to keep a hockey presence and they've done that," Melrose explained. "They've been great and they signed me to a long-term deal because it's the greatest sports company in the world. 

"The funny thing is, one of the producers stopped me the other day and said, 'I think we're doing more hockey now then when we had the NHL package.' We've been on SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, ESPNNews, Cold Pizza and ESPN.com. We're going to do the college playoffs and the Frozen Four, so I'm doing a lot." 

As for OLN's treatment of the game, Melrose says it's all about the eyeballs. 

"They're doing new things but it's hard to start where they started from. No one knew where they were on the dial and OLN is not in every house. They are trying to make it better and I'm in favor of anyone trying to do that. Are they better at it than ESPN? Of course not, no one is better than them. It's tough to do it only two nights a week, especially Tuesday and Wednesday and OLN isn't in 90 million homes." 

Melrose has more than an inkling that after the 2006-07 season, you'll see puck back at ESPN. 

"They're gonna try, it fits in its programming and all the people I talk to feel the same," he said. "To get the TV right, OLN had to pay more than ESPN would match (as ESPN had the right to match any offer) and at $ 90 million for the season, OLN felt they could make it work."

DOWN THE STRETCH

As the trade deadline approaches, Melrose doesn't see a lot of activity, primarily for financial reasons.

"The players that are hot commodities either make a lot of money or they're free agents at season's end," he said. "It's a gamble for most teams; Carolina took a flyer on Doug Weight because they feel they're close to the Cup and they have room under the cap. Weight's already said he wants to go back to St. Louis, so the Hurricanes are hoping he'll win the Cup, fall in love with Carolina and want to stay there. 

"Keith Tkachuk is in the same spot as Doug Weight. He makes a lot of money and he's got a no-trade clause. I think he's still a great player and teams will have interest. Olli Jokinen is having a great season in Florida, but he's a free agent and if Florida thinks they can't sign him, they'd be looking for draft picks or young players for him. (Phoenix's veteran goaltender) Curtis Joseph has had his best season in a long time and doesn't make a lot of money; teams are looking at him as well. 

"The real problem in moving players this season is that the teams that had big buyers before (Detroit, Colorado and Philadelphia being the usual suspects) don’t have cap room." 

With three quarters of the season over, Melrose thinks the salary cap has been a great success for the league. 

"You wouldn't have had Nashville go after Paul Kariya without the cap and without him they wouldn't have the success they're enjoying. Additionally, it's allowed all six Canadian teams to stay in the NHL," expressed Melrose. "Realistically, if there wasn't going to be a salary cap, you wouldn't have six teams in Canada inside of ten years." 

Melrose hints that the cap could even draw a team or two north. 

"There's no reason that you couldn't have Winnipeg back in the league with their new building, but the league would rather have a team in Houston, Kansas City or Portland."

He points out that you can't get a ticket for the six teams north of the border while buildings are empty in Long Island, Atlanta, Florida and even Chicago. 

"Is it better for the league to put a product in a building in Winnipeg where they would sellout every night," Melrose asked. "They're drawing 9,000 a night with an AHL team there."

Hamilton would be a great destination too, but he knows Toronto would make the costs to infringe on their market prohibitive. 

Overall, he likes the parity that's been brought to the league creating more excitement in more cities while not shortchanging players as league revenues will increase going into next season.

CHALK EATER

Pressed for a pick for the Stanley Cup Finals, Melrose prefers to stay with favorites. 

"Right now in the East, Carolina is playing the best," Melrose said. "I like their defense, a lot of players on the roster can score. Eric Staal is as good as there is this season." 

As for the west, he likes the perennial favorite, the Detroit Red Wings. 

"They have five gold medalists on the team and if you check the last two Olympic years, Detroit won the Cup in those years. Vancouver's not playing great and neither is Calgary, Dallas is playing OK." 

While some critics think the unproven Manny Legace in net is a potential weak link, Melrose defends him. 

"Everybody doubts him but look at his numbers," he said. "The guy wins every night so what more can you ask him to do. You can say he's been a backup all his life or that he's too small but the guy just wins." 

But Melrose thinks that Winged Wheel's secret weapon sits on their blueline every night in the form of a 44-year-old defenseman. 

"Chris Chelios is a freak," Melrose exclaimed. "He's a unique individual and he's playing better than he has in a long time. It would be a great thing for him to go out and win the Stanley Cup one more time."

Barry Melrose appears on the ESPN family of networks frequently as its lead hockey analyst.
 

Dennis Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media, is a columnist for TheFourthPeriod.com and the Los Angeles Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine.