Barry Melrose? Seriously?

"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step." - Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte

These are pivotal days for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 2004 Stanley Cup Champions are coming off a dismal year on the ice, but won the draft lottery and selected blue-chip Sarnia Sting center Steve Stamkos at number one. Only days before the draft, new and enthusiastic ownership took control of the team. The principal member of the ownership group: Oren Koules, one of the producers of the Saw movies (who, according to IMDB, also appeared in an uncredited role as "Dead Cellmate" in the first installment of the franchise). The Lightning also are reportedly going to announce that Vinnie Lecavalier--the best player ever to wear their uniform--has agreed to a nine-year contract extension for $77 million as soon as the terms of the current CBA allow them to do so. And to replace the fired John Tortorella, the rookie ownership group hired Barry Melrose.

Cue record scratch sound.

Say what?

Melrose had a brief stint as an NHL coach, working behind the bench of the L.A. Kings for a few seasons in the early nineties--a stretch that included that franchise's only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. After this he probably would've faded into general hockey obscurity had he not commenced a tenure as a hockey analyst for ESPN, a job he has held right up until the present. Among hockey fans he is pretty much regarded as an analyst who was once briefly a coach, not a coach who later became an analyst (although probably he gets the most adulation for stubbornly clinging to the original hockey hair style--the mullet--in a day when such daring coiffures are largely passe).

This move had been rumored to be in the cards since even before Tortorella got fired--indeed, a lot of hockey observers were talking about it like it was a lock--but I have to admit I didn't buy it. Would any NHL franchise actually engage as their coach a guy who hasn't been involved with the league in any way for over a decade--a decade that has seen a roller coaster of change? So when the official announcement came along I was still able to shake my head with disbelief.

As you might guess, reviews have been mixed. (Thumbs up here, thumbs down here). Personally, I have an instinct to think the move is absurd--which is why I never really believed it would happen in the first place. If the Sharks had pulled a stunt like this, I would have blown a gasket. Most of the debate that I've read seems to swirl around the issue of whether Melrose will even be remotely competent behind an NHL bench in 2008. Some say yes, some say no. It begs the question: is there seriously nobody else out there--in the AHL, in junior hockey, or currently serving as an NHL assistant--who could be expected to be better than Melrose? How about Tim Hunter, the former Sharks assistant--yes, he's about to reunite with Ron Wilson in Toronto, but what if the Lightning had called? That's just one name I happen to know...people smarter than me could surely add many more and better names to the list.

I wouldn't characterize myself as a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, but as an advocate of Sun Belt hockey I feel I have a bit of a stake in the outcome of this scheme. The Lightning are a Sun Belt success story--despite a dismal year on the ice last season, the crowds that turned out during and after the Bolts' championship have largely stuck around. (The team ranked eighth in the league in attendance last year). With Lecavalier on the verge of a major commitment to the franchise, and potentially Crosby-esque help on the way in the high-scoring Stamkos, the Lightning might be just a rebound in the standings away from truly planting firm hockey roots in Florida. Is this really the time to take such an extraordinary and bizarre gamble with the head coach?

I dunno. Maybe. Despite the temptation to pillory Koules and his colleagues as clueless, starstruck hockey newbies, they seem to be taking a so-crazy-it-might-work attitude to their entire endeavor. I'm finding myself being won over by their enthusiasm: they seem giddy at the prospect of owning a hockey team, in the way that I expect I would be giddy if I ever owned a hockey team. In an act of gentle human decency that genuinely moved me and a lot of other hockey watchers, they selected David Carle--brother of Sharks' defenseman Matt, and diagnosed with a chronic heart condition that forced him to retire from hockey only days before the draft--in the last round. Koules: "The kid worked his whole life to be drafted in the NHL, and I didn't see a reason he shouldn't be." (Quote is from here, story many other place on the net). And if we're discussing relative competence of NHL ownership, let's remember we're comparing the new boys in Tampa to a group that has demonstrated beyond all doubt their comprehensive incompetence in recent years.

So I say let's give this new bunch a chance. Hiring Merose is no doubt crazy...but maybe it'll turn out to be crazy like a straw.