Boston Bruins: Claude Julien Should Be On Hot Seat
Apparently the notion this offseason with the Boston Bruins and their front office was it’s one or the other: general manager Peter Chiarelli or head coach Claude Julien.
Julien, by a slim margin, helped solidify that notion when it was Chiarelli and Chiarelli alone to head out the door. Arguably, it should have been both.
But Julien, and his coaching staff, all remained intact and will indeed be leading the Bruins in the 2015-16 season. Then, when current GM Don Sweeney was hired, many thought, like myself, that the two would butt heads. One was looking to lead the team in this direction, the other looking in that direction. It turns out they managed to find common ground.
Both Julien and Sweeney managed to find an equilibrium in the grand scheme of things, and share a similar outlook for the team. Let’s just hope that doesn’t mean adding more aged grinders on this team instead of evolving with the rest of the league.
It’s futile to think Julien will ever change his ways. But according to the Boston Herald, the coach and GM share some general views together.
“Don and I have had talks and have a very, very similar outlook on what’s needed and what we want to do,” Julien said. “There was never an issue there at all. That’s why it’s worked out. We seemed to be seeing the same things. Personality-wise, we’ve known each other for a long time. It wasn’t as tough a process as far as evaluating as people might think, but it was more about the time that was needed for him to feel comfortable with everything.”
What isn’t futile to imagine is Julien losing his job this year if things start going South. President Cam Neely and the ownership alike demand better results compared to last year’s failure to reach the playoffs.
Though Sweeney agrees that this team needs more brass, an area Julien reveres on teams, that doesn’t mean he shares the same defensive mindset as Julien. Sweeney has stressed this is a team in transition. The Bruins are in a state of switching gears compared to the team it was last season at least. On defense, Boston wasn’t a cohesive unit. They were isolated defenders lost on their own islands. Sweeney is looking to implement a new brand of hockey. A brand that will allow the Bruins to gap up, add quickness, and turn defense into offense.
With Julien at the helm, it is still possible, but what may not be possible is for Julien to entrust youth on this team. Sending out the current fourth line of Max Talbot – Chris Kelly – Zac Rinaldo, their average age is 30. That’s a recipe for disaster when teams like Tampa send out a fourth line that has an average age of 25.
Julien is simply reluctant to trust youth. Sure, he trusted a guy like Milan Lucic when he was young, but there’s no analogy between Lucic and a guy like Brian Ferlin or Seth Griffith. And back in June, when all of these ‘youth talks’ surfaced when Julien was at the peak of being on the hot seat, he spoke about his experience with youngsters.
“I came up coaching junior hockey, and I know how those young players are,” Julien said to NESN. “I’ve had a lot of patience with those guys. Sometimes, you have to take a hard stance, but it doesn’t mean you’re not patient with them, and that you’re not trying to make those guys better.”
Laughable.
If he was trying to sell to the media back in June that he has ‘patience’ with youth, why is Talbot and Kelly still starting every night? And why does Kelly average 15 minutes of ice time per night? He’s had Griffith and he can still throw in a guy like Ferlin on that fourth line, but he chooses not to.
It will be interesting if the B’s begin to go on a rocky stretch this coming year. Julien will have some interesting decisions to make if he reaches the breaking point. Who knows, maybe Kelly will average just 14 minutes per game.