Former NHL head coach and player Barry Melrose starts a new gig this season: He will be blogging for NHL.com throughout the 2011-2012 season. Plus, Melrose will be appearing as an analyst for NHL Network during every League-wide NHL event, starting with today's 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic announcement at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

To start off each week, look for "Melrose Monday" on NHL.com. Melrose will look ahead at the biggest days on the NHL calendar that week. "Melrose Monday" starts today with Barry's unique take on the Winter Classic between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers Jan. 2.

Barry's take on the Winter Classic:

We're less than 90 minutes away from opening faceoff here in St. John's. Players and coaches seem genuinely thrilled to be a part of the Kraft Hockeyville experience and are primed to put on a good show for these rabid fans tonight.

Here are the expected forward lines tonight for each club:

Winnipeg
Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Blake Wheeler
Carl Klingberg-Jim Slater-Tim Stapleton
Evander Kane-Mark Scheifele-Chris Thorburn
Patrice Cormier-Ben Maxwell-Troy Bodie

Ottawa
Colin Greening-Mika Zibanejad-Daniel Alfredsson
David Dziurzynski-Zack Smith-Chris Neil
Mike Hoffman-Corey Locke-Bobby Butler
Corey Cowick-Derek Grant-Mark Parrish

Commissioner Gary Bettman, at a podium erected on top of a dugout at Citizens Bank Park, just made official what the commissioner himself called, "the worst-kept secret in sports," that the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic will be played at 1 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2012, between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers.
 
Dignitaries from both clubs were in attendance, including Rangers Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards, and Flyers Chris Pronger, James van Riemsdyk, Matt Carle and Scott Hartnell. There also were a few hundred Flyers season ticket holders in attendance.
 
They just showed a great promotional video highlighting the great Rangers-Flyers rivalry, and the Commissioner also confirmed HBO is back on board for another edition of the critically-acclaimed, award-winning "24/7" series.

As it should be, the kids are the big winners in the Kraft Hockeyville festivities.

Just hours before the Winnipeg Jets and Ottawa Senators battle at the Mile One Centre in St. John's, a player from each squad headed out to Conception Bay South to visit two elementary schools. Jets forward Spencer Machacek and Sens center Peter Regin represented their clubs and took turns taking questions from students of both Topsail and St. George's Elementary Schools. They also signed some autographs and took group photos.

"I had a lot of fun interacting with the community," said Machacek, who hails from Lethbridge, Alberta. "I've never been out here. This is a beautiful part of the country. It's amazing. The teachers and the kids are just so excited to have us here. All the energy is a lot of fun. It's a special thing I'm sure for them to have NHL players come in. We were all young like that once. It was a lot of fun."

St. George's Principal Paul Edwards was thankful to both Regin and Machacek, knowing full well the two players created memories for his schoolchildren that will last a lifetime.

"The kids have been excited all week," Edwards said. We're delighted today to have the players with us. The kids are excited and they will be for another few days while Hockeyville is ongoing. There's been quite a lot of excitement and enthusiasm from our school.

Not lost in the shuffle was a visit from NHL alumni Mathieu Schneider and Rob Zamuner to the Janeway Children's Hospital in St. John's. There's little doubt Schneider and Zamuner brightened some kids' days.

"I think it's amazing that they do this," Machacek said of the Kraft Hockeyville experience. "I'm sure every year, it just grows and grows. A lot of people haven't been out here, including myself. To be able to see this part of the country and see the excitement in this town and to give these kids an NHL game, it's pretty special."

HBO is back this season with its Emmy Award winning 24/7 series.

The Flyers and Rangers will be featured in four episodes that air every Wednesday beginning on Dec. 14 at 10 p.m. ET.

The final episode on Jan. 4 will feature footage of the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Atlantic Division rivals on Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park.

HBO 24/7 documented the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals last year. It was the first time the network went inside two teams during the season.

The NHL has invaded Citizens Bank Park for today's announcement of the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic.

The home of the Philadelphia Phillies has been turned into a temporary hockey heaven, as Flyers, Rangers and the beautiful Classic logo are all over the ballpark.

Dignitaries expected today include Flyers Chairman Ed Snider, Rangers GM Glen Sather, Flyers GM Paul Holmgren, coaches and players from both teams, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and Phillies President David Montgomery.

You can follow along here at this blog, and NHL.com and the NHL Network will have live coverage.

Ottawa Senators goalie Alex Auld knows firsthand just how passionate the hockey fans are in Winnipeg.

Auld, a former second-round draft pick (Florida, 1999), spent parts of four seasons playing for the Manitoba Moose in the American Hockey League. He reflected on his time there fondly this morning after the Sens skated in preparation for tonight's Kraft Hockeyville showdown against the Jets at the Mile One Centre.

"It's exciting," Auld said of the Jets' return to the NHL. "I played four winters there and you could see the passion in the fan base and the love they still had for the Jets. It was tough some nights. We were having a tough game, and the, 'Go Jets Go!' chant would go. It was a little discouraging for us, but it's pretty cool. I was pretty excited and I had been hopeful for a couple of years with all the talk about it."

One of Auld's best seasons came during the NHL work stoppage, when he appeared in 50 games for the Moose. Auld helped Manitoba qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs that season by going 25-18-4 with a 2.56 goals-against average. That season marked the opening of the MTS Centre, which will be the home of the Jets.

"We had a great group of guys," Auld recalled. "Nobody was worrying about who was getting called up or anything like that. We had a good playoff run that year and it was a really fun year. We all really enjoyed it. Opening the new building was pretty cool and closing the old arena. All those things are things you remember forever. Now we'll be playing in Winnipeg again in the NHL. That'll be cool."

 

It's extremely rare that an NHL team conducts a morning skate that is open to the public, but that is the norm in Kraft Hockeyville.

The Winnipeg Jets arrived on the ice here at Mile One Centre at about 9 a.m. Newfoundland time and were greeted by roughly 1,000 rabid fans who will surely be back tonight to watch the preseason game between the Jets and Ottawa Senators.

Two-time Stanley Cup winner Andrew Ladd was a good sport and wore a microphone during the pre-game twirl. He's excited to participate in his first Kraft Hockeyville game this evening.

"It was fun … there was a bunch of kids in the crowd," the Jets' captain said. "You can see how excited they are. It's always fun to do events like this and to get people involved that don't normally get a chance to see NHL hockey and to see their reaction to it."

One could understand that the Jets were a tad groggy on the ice this morning, as their bodies were still on Winnipeg time. Newfoundland is 2 1/2 hours ahead, which meant the team was really up this morning before dawn.

"It wasn't a very good morning skate for us, some of the guys were a little sleepy," defenseman Ron Hainsey told me, as the Jets had a 7 a.m. wakeup call -- or 4:30 in Winnipeg. "It's fun. It's always fun when there's energy in the building. I'm sure the game will be fun tonight, too."

Winnipeg coach Claude Noel is battling a cold, but he's nonetheless thrilled to be in St. John's, which will host the Jets' top minor-league affiliate this season. He and his players are happy to embrace the Kraft Hockeyville event, which seems to get bigger each year.

"The Hockeyville thing is really good and it's really exciting for us," Noel said. "What's really worked out in our favor is this is our farm team. It couldn't have worked out any better. We end up getting a franchise that we didn't know, or certainly I didn't know, and then we end up putting an American League team here. It all works great for us. The excitement now is double what we've got in Winnipeg and what we've got up here. The frenzy continues out here in the East. It's great for us."