“What’s the biggest difference between now and when you were coaching before?”

—“Players are lazy now.”

Paraphrasing, but that’s what he said.

Posted by Backpacking Dad on 11/14/08 at 10:35 PM ET

I heard that too, and thought “wtf?”

I also like how he said if he got what he wanted from his players, he would “be on a plane to Carolina tomorrow.” He sounds bitter.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 11/14/08 at 11:09 PM ET

I gotta think there’s a lot of truth to what he is saying.  Look at Ottawa, big contracts and lazy play at least so far.

Posted by Navarath on 11/15/08 at 07:37 AM ET

Also, keep in mind he stepped into a horrific situation in TB.  The Lightning have a bunch of soft, overpaid guys, a generally poor composition thanks to fairly atrocious ‘GMing’ by the ownership team in the offseason, an area that doesn’t particularly care about hockey,... and then the owners think their poo doesn’t stink, so they hang expectations on the team.

Now don’t get me wrong, Melrose is a horrendous coach.  When the post about him being hired was made here I predicted he’d be gone by Thanksgiving.

I don’t exactly know who could have been successful in TB this year, but it pretty obviously wasn’t Melrose.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 11/15/08 at 07:58 AM ET