On Wednesday evening, we heard the devastating news that Barry Melrose, the longtime ESPN analyst and former hockey coach, had passed away. Melrose retired from ESPN in 2023 after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The disease took him from us too soon. He was 70 years old.
It’s a sad day for the hockey community. Melrose was a larger-than-life figure. It was more than his boisterous style of analysis or his mullet. Melrose had an uphill battle at ESPN for years. He was the main analyst for a sport that he had to fight just to get any coverage for.
Melrose as a personality kept hockey in the view of sports fans, as he would be a fixture on Sportscenter and all other general sports shows on ESPN. He was their hockey guru. And because he was so good at his job, there was no way they could keep him off their television station.
We believe that the reason ESPN even got into the hockey production game is the impact Melrose had on their programming. Now, ESPN is one of the NHL’s broadcast partners again. We thank Melrose for keeping the NHL in the worldwide leader in sports’ lexicon for all those years when they didn’t have the rights.
Melrose was must-see TV because of how he demanded attention and always had a great presentation of his “take.” Of course, being a take artist can get one in trouble, and that’s exactly what happened in 2007.
Fixing an on-air mistake made Barry Melrose a legend to New Jersey Devils fans
During a broadcast in 2007, Melrose made some disparaging remarks about the city of Newark, where the Devils had recently moved after a long run at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ. They had a lot of cities to choose from, but the accessibility of Newark made it the easy choice. As controversial as it looked back then, it was the right decision.
Essentially, he hit all the tropes that we usually see when people talk about Newark. He spoke about being worried about walking around the Prudential Center. He even commented on being worried about his wallet in the area.
Of course, Devils fans and Newark residents did not take kindly to the insult. While Melrose did apologize, he took it a step further.
Melrose made sure his apology wasn't the only way he was going to show Devils fans he was sorry. He was willing to learn and grow. He spent some time in Newark with Devils fans, and despite their unkind welcome, Melrose took everything in stride. He enjoyed his time, and he admitted that he was wrong about the city of Newark.
And that's who Melrose was. For every interesting TV appearance, there were a dozen interactions with young journalists giving them advice and spending time answering their questions. For every controversial take, there were moments with fans that they would never forget. Melrose was our connection to the old way of covering hockey, before social media drove our narratives.
We will miss Melrose and the impact he made on the hockey community.
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