Claude Julien is a universally lauded NHL head coach. A Jack Adams winner and Stanley Cup champion who amassed a 419-246-94 record in nearly a decade spent with the Boston Bruins.
So then why did Don Sweeney fire him on Tuesday?
The team’s general manager cited “philosophical differences” as one of the reasons he decided to part ways with the team’s longtime bench boss. Julien had one more season remaining on his current contract.
“In moving this group forward, with an eye towards the plan we had put in place, I wasn’t ready to commit on a longer-term basis with Claude,” Sweeney told reporters at a news conference. “I thought there was a frustration with wins and losses, and what he was subjected to, on a nightly basis.
“I couldn’t get past the fact that I wasn’t committed, in my own mind, to go beyond where are right now with Claude. With our organization, I don’t know if those two things lined up, as far as the level of success he’s had with the way we were playing. The roster wasn’t a complete and finished product.”
[relatedlinks]
The Bruins have been a floundering group this season, sitting at 26-23-6 at the time of Julien’s firing, and they’ve missed the playoffs two consecutive years. So, in some sense Julien has been on the hot seat ever since Sweeney became the Bruins’ GM in May 2015.
Firing Julien, who was replaced by interim coach Bruce Cassidy, is the latest move from Sweeney that has raised eyebrows.
Sweeney traded away the likes of Milan Lucic, Dougie Hamilton, Carl Soderberg and Reilly Smith prior to the 2015-16 season to accumulate draft picks. He selected Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Zachary Senyshyn with the 13th-, 14th- and 15th-overall picks, respectively in the draft. All three players went earlier in the draft than their projections had indicated they’d go.
In addition to that, several of the high-profile additions Sweeney has made (namely David Backes, Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes) have underperformed in a Bruins sweater.
That the Bruins fired Julien is a bad enough look, but to make optics worse the team announced the decision just as Boston sports fans were celebrating the New England Patriots’ dramatic Super Bowl victory. Sweeney held his news conference simultaneous to the Pats’ Super Bowl parade. Sweeney said the timing was a “coincidence” but several reporters in attendance pressed Sweeney and asked if the timing of the announcement was a strategic move.
“I’m not trying to take away in any way, shape or form. Or deflect or try and mute the impact of my decision this morning,” Sweeney said. “We had a couple of days off and we have two days of practice before a few games, and then we have a real opportunity to step back from the emotion of this and allow the players to get away and vacate mentally and physically. I felt there was an opportunity today and tomorrow to get their feet in the ground for a practice environment, which we haven’t had.
“I apologize that it fell on a day where obviously New England is incredibly excited, but I didn’t make the schedule.”
Between Julien being a well-respected coach, Sweeney’s recent history of questionable transactions plus the timing of Tuesday’s announcement, suffice it to say Bruins fans were not a happy bunch.
Here’s a sample of the reaction to Sweeney’s decision to fire Julien. (There would be far more tweets below if we included ones with curse words.)
