WayneGibbous Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 He is always jocking the Lightning on TV so this doesn't surprise me that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Oxhurtz Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 Hopefully Melrose will go back to coaching. I don't think I ever heard Melrose say anything good about the Sabres, plus we won't have to see his ridiculous lavender (and other terrible colored) sportcoats every night on ESPN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 All true, but they did make the playoffs last season with Holmqvist, and I think Mike Smith is an upgrade over Holmqvist. Stamkos will really help. Signing Vinny long term will be great, but this still does not solve the chronic problem they have continued to have over the last 2-3 seasons. They are a top heavy team with very little secondary scoring. This past season, it was Vinny L, St. Louis, and Prospal while Richards struggled for most of the year and subsequently got traded to Dallas. Then, on the blueline, it was blatantly obvious how bad they missed Boyle. Stamkos and Boyle coming in next year will make a difference, and a full year with Smith will help, but at the end of the day, now that Prospal and Richards are gone, aside from Vinny L, St. Louis, and presumably Stamkos, who is going to step up on that team? Certainly not Chris Gratton. They have zero depth. When they won the Cup, they had a very good team with solid secondary scoring and grit from guys like Fedetenko, Stillman, Andreychuk, Modin, Tim Taylor, and Afanasenkov. They also had a really good blueline in Boyle, Kubina, Sarich, Lukowich, Clymer, Sydor, and Pratt. They had a very good team with a lot of good players and of course Khabibulin. Coaching is not the problem, there is no talent on that team aside from Lecavelier, St. Louis, Boyle, and presumably Stamkos. People talk about the Sabres losing star players, but the Lightning basically lost their entire Stanley Cup team. I think Melrose could have coached that team to a Cup. Torts is a good coach, no doubt, and very fiery. But, I think more than coaching, the lack of secondary scoring and talent is the biggest problem. And, we don't know the situation, but it's not outside the realm of possibility for the team siding with Lecavelier and firing Torts because they don't get along, but who knows? Maybe management has made it a priority to keep Vinny happy by firing the coach and doing whatever it takes to keep him as the face of the franchise. Torts will get picked up very quickly, and I have my doubts of Melrose's success after more than 10 years away from coaching. But, we'll see. It will certainly make for an interesting situation in Tampa, that's for sure, especially with a guy who has a background of being a player's coach. Yes they may have lost some good players (guys that might be considered equivelants to Drury or Briere), but they were still left with top stars like Lecavalier, and St. Louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingcongkorab Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 I don't know. It would probably be fun to play for Melrose. Not that I think he's a great coach. It's the mullet right? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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