Way to go Tampa Bay Lightning. Great move firing a head coach 16 games into the season in the pathetic Southeast Division in which the team was only three wins out of first place.
Ahh the NHL.
Not only did the Lightning jump way too early, but in firing head coach Barry Melrose a man convicted of being associated with a gambling ring (including betting on NHL games) takes over the team.
Associate coach Rick Tocchet is now the new Lightning head coach.
The MLB won't allow its all-time hits leader into the Hall of Fame, but the NHL doesn't bat an eye at letting Tocchet coach a team after pleading guilty to his involvement in a gambling ring.
I'm sure Tocchet is completely rehabilitated despite not serving any jail time. In 2007 Tocchet pleaded guilty to RUNNING a gambling ring. Yet he's still being allowed to helm the 2004 Stanley Cup champions. I'm sure he doesn't have any connections to those who helped him run the illegal nation-wide sports booking company.
Maybe the focus should be more on the idiocy of the Lightning for firing Melrose so early in the season. It's Melrose's first gig behind the bench in 13 years, he needed more time to get his feet wet. He needed at least until through December to learn his players and what they prefer, whom they prefer to play with and how they operate best. Instead, the players can already see this as a sign the season is lost.
Possibly the Lightning, moreso than any team in the league, needed a head coaching change before the season. They got it. Melrose might not have been the right guy but he wasn't given enough time to show what he could do. (Don't think he deserves credit with getting the L.A. Kings to the Cup in 1992-93; that playoff run rested solely on the aching back of Wayne Gretzky that season. Don't believe it? Go back and watch, and pay special attention to Gretzky's playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.)
Enter Tocchet. The Gamblord is now in charge of a professional sports franchise. A man who pleaded guilty to illegal betting activity on a sport he played and coached in (he was an assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes when he was busted) is leading a professional team.
The NHL has yet again shown why it is at best the fourth most popular sport in the U.S. (Although fourth is putting it at the highest possible. It's probably somewhere between WWE and MMA.)
Playing in the Southeast Division the Lightning still have a chance to reach the playoffs. It's too bad Melrose won't have the chance to be behind their bench leading the charge.
It's unbelievably embarrassing that the NHL would permit Tocchet that opportunity.