Boston Bruins Keeping Claude Julien and Other Coaches.
If you live in the Boston area, or are able to listen in to Boston radio, you likely heard a surprise dropped on the air. This decision has been lingering since mid-April when the Bruins let go of Peter Chiarelli. That decision has led to the final fate of the Boston Bruins head coach, Claude Julien.
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Earlier this afternoon, on 98.5 The Sports Hub, that fate was revealed. According to Tony Massarotti (of Felger and Massarotti), the Boston Bruins will declare that Claude Julien and the rest of the Bruins coaching staff will be retained for the 2015-16 season. He expects the announcement(likely made by either Cam Neely or Don Sweeney) to be made official in the next few days.
“The Bruins will make some sort of announcement, I think, probably by the end of the week,” said Massarotti over the air waves. “I believe it to be true, but I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t believe me.”
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Puck Prose
This has to be a welcome sign of relief to Claude Julien and the rest of the coaches. There had been talk since Chiarelli’s firing that the coaching staff would also be held accountable for last season’s disappointing ending. Thankfully, it spares Claude Julien from being a coach who got fired from three separate teams with winning seasons.
Part of last season’s implosion was clearly not Julien’s fault. The B’s front office wasn’t able to draft the right players for several years. This led to the Bruins giving away the house in long term, no-trade clause contracts. (The Bruins are still paying for it now, and will likely do so until the 2016-17 season.)
Claude Julien’s biggest failure as a coach last year was putting too much faith in underperforming veterans. Players like Ryan Spooner were purposely left to linger in Providence because they didn’t seem to fit into the Julien paradigm. The fact the B’s keep dressing Matt Bartkowski could also be laid at the feet of the Bruins bench boss, when the Bruins had young talent available in their AHL club.
While Julien is currently in the clear, his fate is still tied to the team’s early start in October. Julien will have to prove that he is able to make the proper changes in order to keep the Bruins on the right track.
This will be Julien’s ninth year in charge of the Bruins, making him the longest tenured coach in the NHL. In his previous eight years as the Black and Gold bench boss, Julien has led the team to seven playoff runs, two Stanley Cup final appearances, the Stanley Cup in 2011, and an impressive 351-192-79 record.