Mark Madden's Hot Take: Barry Melrose belongs in Hockey Hall of Fame

We’ve lost the plot when it comes to Halls of Fame.

Halls of Fame used to be grandiose and special. Look at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s first class: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth. Unimpeachable. It was a special honor for special athletes.

Halls of Fame have since become mostly enslaved by raw stats, with agendas too often negating.

Barry Bonds not being in the Baseball Hall of Fame is a joke. He’s MLB’s single-season and career home-run leader. Bonds never flunked a steroid test.

Meantime, pitcher Gaylord Perry wrote a book that detailed his cheating. He’s in Cooperstown anyway.

So is David Ortiz, who tested bad for PEDs in 2003. That’s because he’s a lovable clown.

Harold Baines is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, too. He’s a career .289 hitter who made six All-Star Games. Meh.

These are now Halls of Very Good. They’re badly flawed.

Impact on the game is what should matter most.

That’s why Barry Melrose should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Melrose played 307 NHL games, 183 more in the World Hockey Association. He coached the Los Angeles Kings and Wayne Gretzky to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final, losing to Montreal.

After that, Melrose went on TV and became iconic.

He was a hockey analyst on ESPN from 1996-2023. Melrose recently retired after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Melrose became the face and voice of hockey on the Worldwide Leader. He defined class and professionalism. He went wherever ESPN sent him and did whatever was wanted. He was always ready to talk and promote hockey.

To paraphrase ESPN legend Dan Patrick, Melrose fought hard for hockey. He made the game more visible on a national level. He managed to do it while employed by an outlet where hockey isn’t respected nearly enough.

Melrose did all that for 27 years. In doing so, Melrose became iconic. None of hockey’s talking heads are more known, respected and beloved.

Look at recent inductees like Pierre Turgeon and Mike Vernon from this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame class. Who had more positive influence on hockey, them or Melrose? Not to be negative. But let’s be real, too.

Great guy. Great wit, also. When in Pittsburgh for a Stanley Cup Final, Melrose said to me, “I guess you can dress like that when you’re just on radio.” Punctuated by his rollicking laugh. (I had no comeback. Nobody out-dresses Melrose, and I often look like an unmade bed.)

Melrose has always loved hockey. It’s time for hockey to love him back.

Put Melrose in the Hockey Hall of Fame.