Fired Tampa Bay Lightning coach Barry Melrose says players didn't want to play for him

Barry Melrose, fired as Lightning coach Friday, said he believes his dismissal was in part sparked by players voicing displeasure with him to management.

"I think the players didn't want to play for me," Melrose said Saturday during an interview on Hockey Night in Canada. "I'm not a guy who sings Kumbaya around the fire. I'll let you know if I'm not happy with you.

"And obviously, a lot of guys didn't like to be held accountable with this team, and obviously, they went to (owners) Oren (Koules) and Len (Barrie) and said they don't like this style of coaching and 'would you get rid of him.' I don't think there was any secret about that."

Koules said in a text message to the St. Petersburg Times on Sunday, "It's absolutely not true."

When general manager Brian Lawton was asked Friday if players had come to him with reservations, he said, "Nobody came to me on this issue."

Melrose said "the players have the power" on the Lightning, "and they exercised that power" with his firing.

"Now they can play who they want and how much they want and when they want and (not) demand a lot of them," he said. "Everybody's happy in Tampa right now."

Times staff writer Damian Cristodero contributed to this report.