Still the coach of the Boston Bruins after nearly two months of uncertainty, Claude Julien broke his silence by way of a rare June media session in Wilmington on Wednesday morning.
“I think it was more about understanding the situation and you lose a GM that you’ve worked with for a long time that you’ve enjoyed working with who I think has done a great job here, and then you’ve got to readjust here and get used to probably working with somebody else, and that’s always your hope,… Julien said when asked about dealing with the two-month limbo. “I said it right from the get go, when I met with him, that I understand the business and you have to allow the GM time to assess and make decisions and he’s got to feel comfortable, too. So as much as it wasn’t a lot of fun or easy, it wasn’t frustration; it was more about understanding the situation, and I understood it. I spoke with Don quite a few times, and we talked about different things, so it wasn’t just about one situation, which is the coach; it was about the whole situation of coaches, trainers, everything else. We went through the whole scenario of what was important for him to know, and he had to make some decisions.…
Ultimately, that decision saw everybody return to the Hub. Julien, his assistants Doug Houda, Doug Jarvis and Joe Sacco, and as far as I know, the trainers, too.
The process hasn’t let the Boston bench boss of eight years uneasy about his ‘leash’.
“I know a lot of speculations have been made about whether this is temporary or whatever it is, but you know, we’re really committed and determined to take this team and move forward with it in the right direction. Don [Sweeney] and I have had talks, and very, very similar outlook on what’s needed and what we want to do,… said Julien. “There was never an issue there at all. So that’s why it’s worked out. We seem to be seeing the same things. Personality-wise, we’ve known each other for a long time, and there wasn’t as probably a tough process, as far as evaluating, as much as people might think, but it was more about the time that was needed for him to feel comfortable with everything.…
Part of the hold up with the B’s confirming Julien’s return for a ninth year in in Black and Gold came back to an alleged discussion that new GM Sweeney wanted to have with Julien about what exactly the Bruins were going to change or add to their game to propel back to a Cup-contending level.
“The game evolves, the rules change, and again, the personnel of your team changes, so you make adjustments accordingly,… Julien said. “Ironically enough, two days after the season was done, the coaching staff, we met and we’d already made some adjustments that we felt would probably be something we’d like to see in our game, and Don [Sweeney] happened to come in, and we talked about those things, so we’d already done the work on that. It just goes to show that we were seeing the same things, and that we were all on the same page.…
But not even a new regime led by Sweeney will force Julien to reinvent who he is as a coach.
“For people to think we’re going to play a run-and-gun game, that’s not happening,… quipped Julien.
“We can talk about all kinds of things, and the teams that are in the Finals now, one of them had an even better goals-against average than we did, so this game hasn’t changed. You need good defense and good offense. You need both. And we’ve been able to do that for a lot of years. Just because we had a tough year last year doesn’t mean we’re all about defense; it’s more about — we gave up more goals last year than we did the year before,… Julien admitted. “So that should be criticized as much as the goals for. It was just a tough year, and when we’ve compared our scoring chances last year to the year before, where we scored a lot, surprisingly enough, the scoring chances are almost identical. The biggest thing in that was — the biggest difference last year was the finish. And that’s something you’ve got to work on as well as individuals and as coaching staff — how can we get our players to have better finish?
“But the chances were created, and I know it didn’t look that way because when you don’t score, it doesn’t seem like your offense is as good, and we think it definitely can be better, but at the same time we’ve got to work on certain things. So that’s what I mean by making adjustments. There are going to be little subtle adjustments along the way, but nothing major.…
With Babcock’s departure from Detroit for Toronto, Julien is now the longest tenured coach in the entire National Hockey League, but isn’t quite hanging his hat on that stat given its meaning.
“It just means that I’m probably the next one to fall off the totem pole, right?… Julien joked when asked about that stat. “I’m going to try to make it last as long as I can, to be honest with you. I love Boston, I love the city, I love the fans — what a great group of fans we have. They love their team, and everything that I’ve seen around this city from all the sports team around, this is a great city to be in. So I feel privileged to be here, and as I said before, I’d like to make it last as long as I can.…
Behind the Boston bench since 2007, Julien is also nearing an impressive mark. With 351 wins as the coach of the B’s, Julien enters this upcoming season just 36 wins away from tying hockey legend Art Ross as the winningest coach in the club’s 91-year history. That’s huge.
“I probably feel a little sheepish because first of all, we know what Art Ross’ name means around the league, so at the same time, as nice as an honor as that would be and [I] would feel privileged about it, I also always take into consideration the era where all these things have taken place,… said Julien. “The game changes, the rules change, the number of games you play per season changes, and from talking about the John Beliveaus, the Gordie Howes, the [Wayne] Gretzkys and [Mario] Lemieuxs, and probably now the [Sidney] Crosbys and the [Alex] Ovechkins — Bobby Orr — who was the greatest player?
“There’s always going to be that debate, and there’s great people in certain eras that you should never forget, and see what they’ve accomplished, and again, to me, that’s how I’ve looked at it. So it would be an honor, but certainly wouldn’t compare myself to him because he worked in a different era and he still deserves the accolades that he’s had all along.…
The Bruins have made it at least the second-round of the postseason in all but three of Julien’s eight years behind the bench.