Barry Melrose Dies: Gretzky-Era L.A. Kings Coach And Longtime ESPN Hockey Analyst Was 70
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Tributes have continued to pour in for Barry Melrose, the former Los Angeles Kings coach and longtime ESPN hockey analyst, who died on Wednesday aged 70. Colleague John Buccigross called him "my best friend at ESPN… a big brother figure of rock solid values," while fellow broadcaster Steve Levy said Melrose was "the unquestioned face/voice of hockey in the United States" for more than 30 years. Both learned of his death while at a hockey rink in Las Vegas preparing for the new NHL season, a detail Buccigross called "chilling and fitting" given the rink was Melrose's second home.
Melrose, born in Kelvington, Saskatchewan, played in the NHL as a defenceman for the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings between 1979 and 1986, having earlier spent three seasons with Cincinnati in the WHA. He coached the Kings to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 1993 during Wayne Gretzky's fifth season with the club, before joining ESPN in 1994 — whose Stanley Cup playoff coverage that year won a Sports Emmy — and becoming a full-time fixture from 1996, known for his mullet and loud pinstriped suits. He briefly returned to coaching with 16 games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008-09, and also appeared in the films Mystery Alaska and Slap Shot 2, before retiring from broadcasting in 2023 after disclosing a Parkinson's disease diagnosis.
- Ex-ESPN hockey analyst and former L.A. Kings coach Barry Melrose has died, aged 70
- ESPN colleagues Steve Levy and John Buccigross paid emotional tributes
- He coached Gretzky's Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, later diagnosed with Parkinson's
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Barry Melrose was a Canadian former NHL player who went on to make his name as an ice hockey coach and television pundit in North America. He is best known for coaching the Los Angeles Kings in the early 1990s, when the team featured the legendary Wayne Gretzky, and for guiding them to their first-ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, the championship series of the National Hockey League, in 1993.
After his coaching career, Melrose became a familiar face and voice in American sports broadcasting, working for ESPN, a major US sports network, for close to twenty years. He was widely recognised for his distinctive look, including a mullet hairstyle and pinstriped suits, and became one of the network's most prominent hockey commentators, appearing regularly on its flagship programming.
In recent years, Melrose had reduced his public role after revealing he had Parkinson's disease, a condition affecting the nervous system. His combined career as a player, coach and broadcaster meant he was a recognisable figure to several generations of hockey fans in North America.
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