Barry Melrose has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and is retiring after nearly three decades as the colorful NHL analyst for ESPN, he revealed Tuesday.
“I’ve had over 50 extraordinary years playing, coaching and analyzing the world’s greatest game: hockey. It’s now time to hang up my skates and focus on my health, my family, including my supportive wife, Cindy, and whatever comes next,” Melrose, 67, said in a statement, which arrived on the first day of the 2023-24 NHL season.
“I’m beyond grateful for my hockey career and to have called ESPN home for almost 30 years. Thanks for the incredible memories, and I’ll now be cheering for you from the stands.”
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A native of Kelvington, Saskatchewan, Melrose appeared in 300 games from 1979-86 as an NHL defenseman with the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, scoring 10 goals with 728 penalty minutes. Earlier, he played in 178 games in three seasons (1976-79) with the World Hockey Association.
As a cigar-loving coach with a distinctive mullet and flashy suits, Melrose took the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993 in the first of his three seasons coaching the team.
“He’s bigger than any team,” Gretzky said in a video tribute for ESPN. “For decades, he’s been suiting up — and I mean suiting up — for the game, for the sport, for hockey. … You see, hockey is more than a game, it’s a community — a finely tuned orchestra — and Barry was our conductor.
“Barry has given so much to the game. And now he needs our support, and all of us in hockey are here for him.”
Melrose joined ESPN in 1994 and became full-time in 1996. He returned to coaching in 2008 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but that stint lasted just 16 games, and he was back on television in ’09. His overall NHL coaching record was 84-108-29.
On Tuesday, his ESPN colleague and fellow hockey fan John Buccigross called him a “razor sharp wit” in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Melrose did not cover the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, the first time he had missed the league’s championship series in some time.
In a statement, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called Melrose “a unique, one-of-a-kind person. And hockey on ESPN won’t be the same without him. … His love for hockey is obvious and infectious. And it is impossible to have a conversation with him without a smile on your face.
“Barry, we wish you well in this fight and know you will give it everything you have — as you always do.”
