Feb 12, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings former coach Barry Melrose is honored before the game against the Calgary Flames at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Barry Melrose, well dressed and bespoke former player, coach, and analyst was involved in the game of hockey for the better part of five decades of his life.
Now, the iconic former ESPN analyst has passed away at the age of 70 after a battle spanning several years with Parkinsons. Melrose’s well-known mullet and voice graced the airwaves for nearly three decades after his coaching career ended.
Though, before he was ushering Wayne Gretzky and the LA Kings to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, Melrose got his start with Detroit’s old farm club, the Adironback Red Wings. Ready for the spotlight Melrose was an entertainer on and off the ice which may have been why he was selected both by the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers.
In his six year NHL career, the defenseman racked up 728 penalty minutes across 300 career games with three different teams, finishing his playing career with Detroit and their AHL affiliate Adironback Red Wings in 1987. After, Melrose shifted to working behind the bench, first with the Medicine Hat Tigers and then the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL, before re-joining the Red Wings organization as coach for their-then affiliate Adironback Red Wings.
Melrose won the Calder Cup in his final year as coach in Adironback, which led to his promotion to the big leagues as head coach of the LA Kings in 1992, where he would go on to coach to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance in his first year on the job. Unfortunately Melrose and the 1992-93 Kings came up short of the ultimate prize, and Melrose would be fired two years later midway through the season after winning just 13 out 41 games in the 1994-95 season.
After that, Melrose started his career in broadcasting with ESPN in 1996, though he did briefly return to the bench for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2014 for a 16 game stint. Melrose stepped away from the spotlight in 2023 following a Parkinsons diagnosis, but his presence in the hockey world has, and will, be missed.
