Barry Melrose Makes His Return to ESPN

I'm going to skip talking about a certain classic of winter for a moment to talk about someone near and dear to this blog. We're on Winter Classic overload anyway at FanHouse, so if you need an injection of that, the good folks over there can fill you in.

Today is a milestone in television history, it was Barry Melrose's return to ESPN and our television sets. There's no coverage of it on ESPN.com, YouTube and the rest of the blogosphere (I admit, I only took a quick glace so email me links if you have them!) so that's why we're here tonight.

This afternoon after the classic was over, I caught Melrose and Matt Barnaby doing their thing with one of the anchors on Sportscenter. They were dissecting the winter classic and, aside from Melrose calling Claude Julien a "slam dunk" for coach of the year on ESPN News (does anyone watch that channel?) it went rather well. Scripted, but well. Not that what either commentator had to say was scripted, but their turns at yelling over the highlights -- yes, yelling -- were almost timed. Melrose did his best John Moschitta Jr. impression trying to get all his thoughts in before Barnaby was supposed to chime in.

We'll have to see how this dual color commentator thing works out. They're both good guys and good at what they do, but we'll see if they can work together. If anything, maybe ESPN will bring back NHL2Night since they'll need some place to put everyone -- Bucci, Melrose, Barnaby and I guess Linda Cohn can come too. OK, that was the left over egg nog kicking in. Oh well...

And I have no video or anything from today, and you know how much I love videos, so send those in if you have them!

Tale of the Tape: Barry Melrose vs. Matt Barnaby

The Globe and Mail

With the news today that the Matt Barnaby-to-ESPN thing is almost official, I think it's time to welcome our newest Non-Mulleted Television Commentator Overload.

While I know it's going to be a long, hard road towards acceptance -- hey, those are some big shoes to fill -- I'm confident that in the end we'll get along just fine with Matt. Even though he used to play for the Rangers.

But now that things are official, or at least getting closer to becoming so, I decided we should try to get to know Mr. Barnaby a bit better. So in a 4th grade venn-diagram kind of way, we're going to compare and contrast our past and (potentially) present overlords. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Name:		Barry Melrose	Matthew Barnaby
Height:		6'0"	6'1"
Weight:		205	191
Age:		52	35
Birthplace:		Kelvington, SASK	Ottawa, ON
NHL career:		1979-1986, 1992-1995 (Coach)	1992-2007
NHL Teams:		Kings, Jets, Leafs, Red Wings	Sabres, Penguins, Lightning, Rangers, Avalanche, Blackhawks, Stars
Drafted:		36th overall, 1976	83rd overall, 1992
Numbers worn:		2, 6, 26	36, 38, 77
Career PIM:		728	2562
Broadcast experience:		Do you have to ask?	NHL on TSN
Reputation:		Greasy	Pest
Good friend(s):		Bucci, Steve Levy	Rob Ray
Identifying Characteristic:		Mullet	Being an ass-kicker
Best player ever traded for:		Jamie Hislop	Wayne Primeau
Known Enemies:		Humidity	Tie Domi, Lyle Odelein
Not afraid to:		Speak his mind	Have dinner with you and then fight you
Comparable celebrity:		Chris Berman, if Berman was charismatic and entertaining	Luke Wilson. Maybe.
Comparable produce:		Radish	Cantaloupe
Free association:		Musk, Vidal Sassoon, Don Cherry's Arch-nemesis	I hate the New York Rangers
Awesome Nickname they don't have but should:		Lord of Videotape Analysis	Destroyer of Jawbones
Occupation, if they didn't play hockey:		Hairstylist	Chiropractor
Civilization they most resemble:		America circa 1840. The gold rush was the first thing that came to mind.	Sparta of Ancient Greece. Barnaby could totally be in that movie.
Movie role born to play:		Mel Gibson in the Patriot	Fulton Reed in the Mighty Ducks

Matt Barnaby -- of All People -- to Replace Melrose at ESPN?

There hasn't been much serious talk regarding who will fill the shoes (and hair) of Barry Melrose at ESPN. Of course the blogosphere has been a buzz trying to guess and set odds for the whole thing, but there has yet to be much about who ESPN would be interviewing/hiring.

Consider the hat of Matthew Barnaby, former Sabre, Penguin, Lightning, Ranger, Avalanche, Star and Blackhawk (gotta love free agency), now in the ring.

At Going Five Hole, Sean reports that earlier this week on LCS hockey Barnaby confirmed that he is in talks with ESPN to fill the vacancy left by Melrose.

Barnaby, who makes the occasional appearance on TSN, noted he was going to meet with ESPN executives about the open position as lead NHL analyst with the WorldWide Leader. I did a poll over at Puck Daddy about who should replace Barry Melrose as the puck-talking head over at ESPN. While Barnaby wasn't included as one of the choices, he is an interesting option. He's definitely an out-spoken character with plenty of NHL experience, but I just don't see ESPN selecting him. It does baffle me why the need for a big NHL analyst on a network that barely covers the sport anyway.

So there you have it. The bloodthirsty villagers finally have a suspect. Discuss!