In Boston Tuesday morning, the next shoe fell to the floor of the National Hockey League’s fired head coaches suite with the ouster of Claude Julien.
Julien was head coach of the Boston Bruins for 10 seasons, the longest serving head coach at the time of his firing.
Former Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien
The decision to cut ties with the Bruins bench boss comes just a week after the St Louis Blues fired Ken Hitchcock.
He and the Bruins are just six years removed form the Stanley Cup in 2011.
Assistant coach Bruce Cassidy has been named tan interim position as bench boss for the remainder of the season.
“There are a lot of people who are surprised and disappointed for Claude. He’s a Stanley Cup champion,” Cassidy said.
Despite 419 career wins Julien’s Bruins have missed the post season since 2013.
“We’re not going to reinvent the wheel system-wise,” Cassidy said,
Boston’s general manager Don Sweeney made the call but his seat is warm as well with the lack of post season appearances in recent years.
The Bruins sit at 26-23-6 with 58 points but are one point out of a wild card spot and everyone around them has games in hand.
For Julien, almost certainly the offers will begin to come to his phone. There are plenty of head coaches in the NHL with equally tenuous positions as his and organizations would gladly part with financial assets to entice him.
The Bruins suffered from injuries, poor play and age on the back end. It is difficult to win anywhere under those conditions.
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