Barry Melrose, the former NHL player and coach who became one of hockey’s most recognizable and beloved voices during nearly three decades at ESPN, has died at 70.

Melrose died Wednesday after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, which prompted him to step away from ESPN in 2023. His wife, Cindy, confirmed his death to the network.

For generations of hockey fans, Melrose was impossible to miss. There was the famous mullet, the goatee, the sharp suits and, above all, a personality big enough to make even a routine hockey highlight entertaining.

But those who knew him personally remembered something deeper: a loyal friend, family man and man of Christian faith whose values extended well beyond the rink.

“Barry was my best friend at ESPN,” longtime colleague John Buccigross wrote following Melrose’s death, calling him “a big brother figure of rock solid values.”

“I am shook to my core,” Buccigross added. “Barry gave his life to hockey.”

Melrose’s relationship with the sport stretched back more than 50 years.

Born in the small town of Kelvington, Saskatchewan, in 1956, Melrose began his professional career with the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association in 1976. He eventually moved to the NHL, playing defense for the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.

Melrose appeared in 300 NHL regular-season games before retiring as a player following the 1985-86 season. He then moved behind the bench, where he found his greatest coaching success.

After leading the Adirondack Red Wings to an American Hockey League Calder Cup championship in 1992, Melrose was hired to coach the Los Angeles Kings. In his first season, he guided a team led by Wayne Gretzky all the way to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final.

Gretzky would later describe Melrose’s place in hockey in terms that went far beyond wins and losses.

“He’s bigger than any team,” Gretzky said when Melrose announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2023. “Hockey is more than a game, it’s a community — a finely tuned orchestra — and Barry was our conductor.”

Melrose eventually found the role that made him familiar even to hockey fans who never saw him play or coach.

He joined ESPN in 1996 and became a fixture of the network’s hockey coverage, bringing an everyman quality to television. His analysis was knowledgeable without feeling stuffy, and his sense of humor made him seem less like a broadcaster delivering a report and more like a hockey-loving friend talking about the game.

“For decades, Barry Melrose was one of the most distinctive and trusted voices in hockey,” ESPN said after his death. “His knowledge of the game was deep, his candor was refreshing, and his passion was unmistakable.”

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman similarly remembered Melrose as someone whose enthusiasm was contagious.

“From the flowing locks of his distinctive mullet to the flared lapels of his trademark long suit coats, Barry Melrose cut an unmistakable figure,” Bettman said, adding that talking with Melrose or hearing his analysis “never failed to boost your love of the game of hockey.”

Away from the cameras, Melrose was also identified as a Christian and had spoken about faith in connection with the toughness and competitiveness demanded by hockey.

“A lot of people in hockey feel you can’t be a big, tough, physical player and be a Christian, but just the opposite is true,” Melrose once said. “They are some of the most fierce competitors in the world.”

In October 2023, Melrose announced that Parkinson’s disease was forcing him to leave the sport that had defined so much of his life. His farewell reflected both gratitude for his career and a desire to devote himself to those closest to him.

“I’ve had over 50 extraordinary years playing, coaching and analyzing the world’s greatest game, hockey,” he said at the time. “It’s now time to hang up my skates and focus on my health, my family, including my supportive wife Cindy, and whatever comes next.”

Three years later, the hockey world is mourning a man who was much more than the unmistakable mullet on television.

Melrose played the game. He coached it at its highest level. He explained it to millions. And perhaps most importantly, he made people love it a little more.