The Boston Bruins have fired head coach Claude Julien. Assistant coach Bruce Cassidy will coach the team in the interim.
NHL.com: The Bruins have a 26-23-6 record this season, good for 58 points in 55 games. Julien is the Bruins all-time leader in wins and has a record of 419-246-94. The Bruins made the playoffs in seven of his nine years behind the bench. They won the Cup in 2011 and made it to the Final in 2013.
Pierre LeBrun: “Julien has this year and next left on his contract paying him $2.5 million this season and $3 million next year”
Joe Haggerty: “Don Sweeney press conference at 1130 and interim coach Bruce Cassidy speaks at noon. All under the cover of the Patriots victory parade”
Thoughts from the media …
Fluto Shinzawa: “A Claude ex-colleague on today’s timing: “Gutless.””
Frank Seravalli: “Julien’s firing reeks of dysfunction. After months as talking point and rumored owner involvement, it’s done on morning of Super Bowl parade”
Chris Stevenson: “It will be interesting to see if Julien’s availability starts a domino effect behind NHL benches.”
Dan Rosen: “Julien is a great coach whose time in Boston ran out. Can’t say with confidence Plan B will be as good but Plan A wasn’t working anymore.”
Joe Haggerty: “As I said multiple times over last few months, was inevitable based on way Bruins were playing. Will always be respected at this address”
Patrick Williams: “The Bruins’ decline has been incredible. Horrible trades, poor drafting, and poor player development. Clearly gotta be the coach’s fault.”
Darren Dreger: “Julien is a fierce competitor, but he will take this in stride.”
Darren Dreger: “We could all see this coming, but still seems odd given Julien’s history. A few owners might be asking their GM’s about this move today.”
Michael Traikos: “Claude Julien is such a great/in demand coach that it wouldn’t surprise me if another team fires its own coach now just to hire him.”
Tom Gulitti: “Claude Julien will get another job. Never feels good to be fired, but probably better for him than continuing to wait for the inevitable.”
JJ Regan: “Bruins decided they needed a new voice behind the bench but it’s hard to argue this team somehow improved w/ Cassidy as coach over Julien.”
Jimmy Murphy: “A move that will go down in infamy”
Jimmy Murphy: “Guess Cam Neely finally got what he wanted. No more Claude Julien. Conveniently done in the shadows of Patriots parade.”
Jimmy Murphy: “So @ESPNJoeyMac is told Julien is “their guy” just two weeks ago and once focus shifts away from that & #NHLBruins, Neely does this now? Wow”
Michael Augello: “It may be one of those cases where a coach has been there too long, but firing Julien is a step back for the #Bruins.”
Ian Mendes: “Some lucky NHL team is going to be getting an upgrade in the coaching department with Claude Julien on the market.”
Gary Lawless: “All of a sudden George McPhee has a pretty solid list of coaches to choose from. Julien, Gallant and Hitch.”
Joshua Kloke: “The Bruins, one of if not the best possession team in the league, fired their head coach. Right.”
Boston Bruins in graphs.
BOS -leads the NHL- in CF% and xGF% so the new coach will be tasked w/ somehow improving the team’s sh% and sv%. pic.twitter.com/LSFuo13Jvl
— Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) February 7, 2017