One week after the Boston Bruins fired head coach Claude Julien after he spent 10 seasons with the club, he was hired by the Montreal Canadiens, a team he coached from 2002-2006 in his first NHL head coaching job.
In the process, the Canadiens had to fire Michel Therrien, who had been with the team since 2012. The Habs had been struggling with just seven wins in their last 19 games under Therrien and GM Marc Bergevin decided it was time for a change.
On Coach’s Corner Saturday night, Don Cherry shared his opinion on the change, believing Julien is the man to get the Habs’ season back on track.
“A lot of people say ‘how could the Boston Bruins let him go?” Cherry said. “Claude was a good warrior 10 years there, won the Stanley Cup, how could they say no?”
Cherry pointed out that a big reason why the Canadiens have been struggling — which ultimately led to Therrien’s dismissal — is the subpar play from Carey Price of late. Price so far has an .879 save percentage in the month of February.
Cherry pointed out an incident earlier this season between Therrien and Price, in which Therrien pulled Price mid-period and the goaltender stared down the coach on his way off the ice. At the time, Cherry said Therrien made a big mistake by not waiting until the intermission to pull the goalie and thinks that was a contributing factor to the end of Therrien’s time with the Habs.
“Remember when that stare came with Michel,” Cherry said. “Price came off and he gave him that stare, I said there’s big trouble there.
“Michel did OK, the guy that hasn’t been playing well — not today, he played great today — is Price.
“They’re going to come through,” Cherry said of the Habs, who he believes will start to turn their season around. “(Claude will) get them straightened out there.”
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