Claude Julien feels he's worked as hard as he has at any point during his long NHL career for the past month or so in his current role as coach of the Canadian Olympic men's hockey team.
Since the NHL announced it would not be going to February's Beijing Olympics last month, Julien and his staff have been hard at work trying to piece together a roster to contend for gold.
Julien, who became Canada's coach after the NHL dropped out, said some of the Zoom calls with coaches and management recently have been as long as four or five hours. Hockey Canada needs to nail down a roster ahead of a Jan. 24 deadline for the Canadian Olympic Committee to submit its full list of athletes to the IOC.
“It’s actually been pretty hectic to be honest with you," Julien said on Real Kyper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Wednesday.
"We’ve gone through the selection (process) here and that’s been a tough one because you get near the end and there’s so many players that are probably all near the same level. So we’re trying to finalize that and at the same time you’ve got the preparation of it as well."
Canada won bronze without NHLers at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, but that was a different scenario as it was known well ahead of time players from the world's top league would not be available.
Julien coached a national team at the Channel One Cup in Russia last month and many players from that squad figure to get the call for Beijing.
But there've been other developments since then -- including reports that Buffalo Sabres No. 1 pick and University of Michigan star Owen Power will be on the team, along with the possibility of NHL veteran Eric Staal, who made his season debut with Iowa of the AHL last weekend.
“You got some junior players at the world juniors in Edmonton that looked really good. We’ve been looking at those guys as well," Julien said. "We're trying to make the mix that blend of players that’s going to create the opportunity to have a really good hockey club here."
Olympic management and coaches
Shane Doan will lead ’s Men’s Olympic Team as general manager, while Claude Julien will take the reins as head coach.@TeamCanada | #Beijing2022— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) January 14, 2022
Julien said a camp for players on the roster will start Jan. 25 in Switzerland -- and the team will travel to Beijing from there. He said a big part of the challenge is having players in line to play avoid contracting COVID-19 before going to Switzerland.
"It wasn’t I guess wise for us to finalize our roster and announce it too early because there’s always guys getting Omicron," Julien said. "At the same time, there's still some guys playing. Guys in Sweden, the league is still ongoing there, Germany, Switzerland … That means there’s still COVID moving around."
Julien said he'd be very interested in another opportunity to coach in the NHL after being fired by the Montreal Canadiens last season. But he said that's not his motivation for coaching this team.
“Let’s put it this way, I think the best thing for me was actually getting this break," said the 61-year-old native of Blind River, Ont., who also has coached the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins and was an assistant on the 2014 gold medal-winning Olympic team.
"I started coaching back in ’93 and we’re talking about junior hockey and worked my way up. I know there’s been lockouts and everything else but I had never missed out or not worked for any hockey team since that day. This year was the first year where I had no pressure, no anxiety, nothing going on except watching my kids play minor hockey. It did me a lot of good. That’s why I’m very reenergized right now.
"But I am going to the Olympics to represent Canada and win a gold medal. I’m not going there to prove myself and say 'you know what, I’d like a job in the NHL.' My whole life has been about doing my job, doing it right and hoping things fall into place."
