Barry Melrose Dies at 70 After Parkinson's Diagnosis

Barry Melrose, the NHL broadcaster and coach, died Wednesday at 70, three years after retiring when diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Barry Melrose, one of the most prominent analysts and ambassadors for hockey in the United States, died Wednesday at age 70, the NHL announced. In a statement, commissioner Gary Bettman mourned "a hockey original," extending condolences to Melrose's wife, Cindy, and their sons, Tyrell and Adrien. Melrose played 300 NHL games over six seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, and in his first year as an NHL head coach took the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final.

Melrose's broadcasting career became his legacy in the sport. From 1996 until 2023, his informative but informal ESPN segments — often alongside longtime friend Steve Levy, and marked by loud suits and a slicked-back mullet — helped bring hockey to a mainstream American audience. John Buccigross called him "a more beloved ESPN institution there has not been," noting some colleagues learned of his death while preparing at a Las Vegas rink.

His retirement ended a nearly three-decade run on the network and marked the second major health-related exit in his circle of the sport. The Hockey News noted that the Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom Melrose played three seasons, joined the hockey community in mourning his passing, remembering him as an opponent behind the bench for one of Toronto's most crushing 1990s playoff defeats.

Tributes from across hockey underlined how Melrose's influence stretched beyond his on-air work. Kings president Luc Robitaille, who played alongside Gretzky on the 1992-93 team, told The Athletic his impact on the sport "was immeasurable" and that his role in hockey's growth across the United States "will not be forgotten." A second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 1976, Melrose also won a Western Hockey League title with the Medicine Hat Tigers in his first coaching season.