The soap opera in Tampa Bay is in the process of taking yet another turn, it would seem, as TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting the Lightning have begun to investigate whether or not they can withhold payments to former head coach Barry Melrose. Melrose has been extremely vocal in his criticism of the team since he was unceremoniously dumped after just 16 games, and recently has been involved in a back-and-forth with co-owner Len Barrie. We're all enjoying it -- well, I am, anyway -- and the latest twist seems to be quite a head-scratcher, as in, "they can't be serious, can they?"
According to Dreger, the Lightning are a little honked off about Melrose's statements that No. 1 overall pick Steven Stamkos is not ready for the NHL, and this is the reason they would like to consider not paying Melrose the remainder of his contract. I don't know, but it would seem to me their chances of winning such a fight -- should they decide to go through with it -- would be about the same as a snowball winning in hell.
The Lightning have been marketing Stamkos since the offseason with their "Seen Stamkos" campaign. As recently as Thursday, Barrie, as part of his media-battle with Melrose, said it's "obvious the kid is a star player," even though he's not quite a star player at the present time, which is the only obvious thing about him.
As Dreger points out, that marketing campaign, and Melrose's opinion that he shouldn't be playing in the NHL right now, are the grounds for Tampa Bay's anger and outrage. After all, it probably doesn't look good for the organization to have some guy plastered all over billboards around town when the former coach doesn't think he belongs with the big club. Still, that doesn't mean they have the right to no longer pay him the money he's owed. I don't think so, anyway.
Thus far, Stamkos has been averaging 14 minutes of ice-time per game, and has scored three goals in 28 games entering play on Thursday.
