Former NHL coach and popular ESPN analyst Barry Melrose, who played for and coached the American Hockey League's Adirondack Red Wings in Glens Falls, died Wednesday at 70 years old.
Melrose retired from ESPN after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2023.
Melrose, a native of Kelvington, Saskatchewan, was an Adirondack defenseman from 1983-87 and coached the Red Wings from 1989-92. He also played in 300 NHL games with Winnipeg, Toronto and Detroit.
He helped the Red Wings win the Calder Cup as a player in 1985-86 and as head coach in 1991-92.
The following season, Melrose was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings. He guided the Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens. He spent three years with the Kings.
Hired by ESPN in 1996, Melrose was beloved by hockey fans, both for his personality and his mullet hairstyle.
He renewed his relationship with Glens Falls when he and ESPN anchor Steve Levy co-owned the United Hockey League's Adirondack Frostbite, who also played at the then-Glens Falls Civic Center, now known as Harding Mazzotti Arena. The name was changed from IceHawks during their ownership.
Melrose coached the team for a game in 2004. The Frostbite folded in 2006.
"For more than 30 years Barry was the unquestioned face/voice of hockey in the United States," Levy said in a statement issued through ESPN. "He was a man of the people, a family man, a part of my family. Tonight I'll toast to the kid from Kelvington who made it big but never forgot his roots. Now he can drink all the Bud Lights, smoke all the cigars and play all the rounds of golf he wants to. Barry Melrose was the best of us. "
