Barry Melrose was one of NHL's biggest personalities, and one of its biggest advocates

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Barry Melrose was one of NHL's biggest personalities, and one of its biggest advocates

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Sep 9, 2026 9:59 PM ET

Even if you are a hardcore hockey fan, you probably do not remember much about Barry Melrose's playing career in the NHL.

His coaching career also never really panned out, and it had more bizarre moments than successes.

But none of that stopped him from being a giant in the NHL and one of the people who tried, against stacked odds, to grow the game in the United States.

He was one of the league's biggest media personalities and advocates, and he was a staple on ESPN's NHL coverage for decades.

Whether you agreed with him, disagreed with him, or followed his career as a coach or player, you knew who Barry Melrose was if you were even a casual hockey fan.

Melrose died on Wednesday at the age of 70, leaving behind one of the sports most distinct legacies and a hole that will be difficult to fill

Barry Melrose was one of hockey's biggest personalities and advocates

Melrose first joined ESPN in 1995 following a brief head-coaching tenure with the Los Angeles Kings, and became one of the network's lead voices, working as a color commentator, studio analyst and eventually a co-host on "NHL 2Night," the network's nightly highlight show.

Barry Melrose, the former NHL player and coach who was a beloved, longtime hockey analyst for ESPN, died Wednesday, his wife, Cindy, told ESPN's Steve Levy. He was 70. https://t.co/68PGbK6rkI
— ESPN (@espn) September 10, 2026

Melrose continued to be a regular on ESPN even when the network no longer had the NHL's broadcasting rights and did everything he could to get more people to follow the sport.

His broadcast style relied on bright suits, bold analysis, quick wit and a passion that was unmatched by most NHL analysis in the states. In some ways, he was the voice of a generation for the sport.

As a player, he appeared in 300 NHL games over parts of six seasons in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Following his retirement, he went into coaching and had brief stops with the Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning.

His peak as a coach came during the 1992-93 season when he led Wayne Gretzky and the Kings to the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens. That series is well-known for being the last time a Canadian-based franchise won the Stanley Cup, and for the pivotal illegal-stick penalty against Kings defenseman Marty McSorley Game 2 of the series.

More than a decade later, he returned to the bench with the Lightning for the 2008-09 season, but coached just 16 games before he was fired during the insane ownership era of Len Barrie and Oren Koules.

Following his run in Tampa Bay, he focused entirely on broadcasting.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on X @AGretz

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