Claude Julien to return as Bruins head coach next season
Claude Julien will be back for the Boston Bruins as head coach next season.
CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty tweeted Friday morning general manager Don Sweeney confirmed this speculation from the NHL combine in Buffalo. Great for Claude Julien! And so begins … Claude Julien Watch 2015-16.
When Sweeney was hired as general manager he called Julien, who has been with the team since 2007-08, the team’s head coach “as of today.”
The full quote:
“I have some things that I want to sit down with Claude and go through in a very orderly fashion as to where I think things need to change and what direction we need to change as a group," Sweeney said. "Also, [I] acknowledged to Claude during this whole process that I think tremendously of him as a coach, and as a person, so it’s just about aligning up philosophical approaches that I believe in, that he believes in, and that we can move the group forward.
“Some of that will involved personnel decisions. Some of that will involve staff member decisions and/or changes. That’s to be determined. He’s the coach of the Boston Bruins as of today, for sure.”
With all due respect to Peter Chiarelli, who is a pretty smart general manager, Julien didn’t trade Tyler Seguin. He didn’t trade Johnny Boychuk. But he also isn’t Sweeney’s ‘guy’ that he personally hired.
Via the Boston Globe:
It is also believed that Julien, 55, will be joined by his full cadre of assistant coaches, including Doug Jarvis, Doug Houda, Joe Sacco, and Bob Essensa.
Julien is beginning a new three-year contract he signed in November 2014 while Chiarelli was still in charge.
Rumors in recent weeks have pointed to a change at least among the assistant coaches. However, all are on target to return, though the length of their contract terms is unclear. It’s possible, according to one of the sources, that all four will have deals that expire at the end of the season.
There’s always some sort of complex with new general managers to bring in ‘their’ coaches.
No matter, Julien’s job security is going to be a major storyline heading into next season. If the Bruins don’t get off to a good start, it’ll be a distraction. If they do, and then hit the inevitable slump mid-year, it’ll again be a distraction. Keeping a Stanley Cup winning coach is a smart move – unless it’s Randy Carlyle to a degree.
But the ship in Boston is going to need to be stabilized for this storyline to completely go away. It may take a year to do so.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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