Usually, when we read between the lines during an ESPN broadcast, it's to try and figure out what Disney product or hack promotion they're going to pimp over the next few weeks. ("It's the NutriSystem Mike and Mike Hot Seat Who's Now Countdown!") When Brant James of the St. Pete Times watched the interaction between Steve Levy and Barry Melrose on the WWL after Game 6 last night, he came away thinking that Levy was saying farewell to The Mullet, all but winked to the camera about his departure from the network for new adventures.

Melrose continues to be coy, but the chatter won't stop about his returning to the bench to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning. Part-time Penguins cheerleader Pierre McGuire was on XM Radio yesterday for his daily spot, and mentioned that Melrose's presence in Tampa might actually help the team sell more tickets. Which struck us as peculiar because, outside of Coyotes games and Al Arbour's return to the Islanders for one night, no one's actually paid to watch a coach in the NHL in recent memory; and because if we listed every single dilemma with the current incarnation of the Lightning, we'd run out of ink before we'd get to attendance problems.

Former Bolts coach John Tortorella has made it clear that he intends to coach again in the NHL ASAP, OK? Which led TSN to report that the San Jose Sharks have asked to speak with Torts about their opening. (By the way: If you're one of those people who likes to have a hearty, painful laugh about these kinds of things, how does Sharks head coach Mike Milbury strike you?)

Tortorella isn't begging for a job, but he is being rather candid about the jobs he isn't going to take. Evidently, there was a rumor kicking around that Tortorella would come to the New York Rangers (where a man of his talents and temperament belong, to be honest) and take over as head coach, with Tom Renney getting kicked upstairs into a player personnel position. As he told John Dellapina of the NY Daily News: "This is just wrong ... Everybody should just stop it!"

We find this quote reads even better if you think about Fred Schneider of the B-52s saying it.