Management Claude Julien - The Last Hurrah?

[Fenway]

Eric Wilbur - In ‘hindsight,’ it’s probably time for Claude Julien to go

Hindsight, Claude?

Hindsight?

That ends up being a pretty loaded word when you think about how this potentially-disastrous season has unfolded for the Boston Bruins.

In hindsight, maybe a tick — just a tick, Claude — of urgency would have been beneficial during this final week of the NHL season, which finds the Bruins in a desperate plea for a playoff spot.

In hindsight, maybe that talk of the Jack Adams award coming to Boston this summer was foolhardy from the start.

In hindsight, maybe it, ultimately, wasn’t the best decision for Cam Neely and Don Sweeney to hang onto Claude Julien as their head coach last summer.

But that’s just hindsight, you know.

continued from

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2046901

Click to read more...

 

[HiyaGeorgii]

Bruins deadline deals with Claude coaching (forwards)

I may miss some. Play-offs that year in parenthesis.

09- Recchi - TB 62-13-32-45, BOS 18-10-6-16 (11-3-3-6)
11- Kelly- OTT 57-12-11-23, BOS 24-2-3-5 (25-5-8-13)
11- Peverley- 59-14-20-34, BOS 23-4-3-7 (25-4-8-12)
12- Rolston- 49-4-5-9, BOS 21-3-12-15 (7-1-2-3)
13- Jagr- 34-14-12-26, BOS 11-2-7-6-9 (22-0-10-10)
15- Connolly 50-12-3-15, BOS 5-0-2-2
16- Stempniak 63-16-25-41 . BOS 17-2-7-9

 

[talkinaway]

Don't fire Claude. He's the one reason we were talking about the playoffs in the first place. This team is held together by three things: Rask, Julien, and duct tape.

So many teams would KILL to have Claude. He's not perfect - he may not even be the best coach in the area where he works. But he's a damn lot better than what he'd be replaced with.

Besides, there's so much more blame to go around. Aging Chara. I's not that he's bad...it's that we're paying for the bargain we were getting in the 2010-2013 version of Chara. The decline should be expected. A few other players haven't stepped up.

But, to me, the brunt of the blame goes to Chiarelli, Neely, and Sweeney, in that order. Chia stocked us with a team that was built to win in 2011, but would be cap hindered for a lot of this decade. Neely is, I suspect, the puppet master. And Sweeney failed to find a good home for Eriksson at a good price. As a result, he flipped from seller to buyer and lost 4 draft picks for what is quickly looking like nothing.

Julien turned a sow's ear into something at least resembling a sow's ear purse...not silk, but this year, the team has performed FAR better than it should have, objectively. He should be safe by a mile, IMO - and this coming from someone who shouted "WHERE'S MARCHAND?!?!?!" at the shootout against Carolina.

 

[bruins repeat time]

Reader's Digest version (somewhat ):

Neely was hired, Chia and Clode not "his guys", but they are winning, so he let's them do their thing. Think he was tasked with more of the business side of things than hockey side to begin with. Lots of hockey people in organization, Benning, Bradley, etc., so no need for Neely to be super hands on.

Fast Forward to after the Cup. B's haven't drafted well, they have made some bad deals, signed some bad contracts, cracks starting to show, team starting to age. Chia and Sweeney supposedly not on same page, not getting along. Benning leaves for VAN, and Neely not liking the product, starts to get more involved. Sees what's going on last year and overrules Chia at the deadline. If the rumored deal with ARI was true (1st, Spooner, Krug, other stuff for Vermette, Yandle, stuff), it would have been a disaster and Neely was absolutely right to veto it. Bruins miss playoffs, and Chia gets the axe. Neely's first "real" move as Prez and he promotes a guy he trusts and is more comfortable with in Sweeney.

They see what the issues are and have some choices. Full-blown overhaul, stay the course, or rebuild on the fly. They choose the latter (which was probably the hardest path) and Sweeney begins by shipping out two starters that were going to be demanding big money and one apparently didn't want to be here. He does some other deals, creates some Cap space and re-stocks the prospect pool by drafting a bunch of kids and signing some good FA prospects. He and Neely had to know that the D was going to be rough and hoping that Chara and Sides could regain some of their lost form. He supposedly tried to deal up in the draft to get Hanifan (poss Werenski), so they knew they needed some impact D in short order. You see this again at the deadline when they try to acquire Shattenkirk.

I may be in the minority, but I don't have any major issues with what Sweeney or Neely have done in the last year (3rd for Rinaldo was high, wished they had dealt Loui at deadline). I didn't think that the B's were a playoff team at the beginning of the season and totally had this pegged as a transition year. The team over-performed for much of the year (until the last 10), and I thought they had a shot to make the playoffs, but didn't have them going further than the 2nd round. This was a bonus in my mind, given the transition year.

Back to Neely. He has had "his guy" in place for less than a year, so I think it's kind of premature to judge him on this. I think that Chia and Co were on autopilot when he got here. So, I don't give him much credit for the Cup, but I also don't bash him for a lot of the stuff that came after. To me, he will be judged by what his GM and the team do moving forward. If they fail, he should be held responsible, but it's way too early to judge that.

As far as Clode goes, think he has done a good job getting the team to the cusp of the playoffs, given what he's had to work with. At the same time, I completely disagree with the way he has utilized and developed the young d-men this year. I don't blame him for not going more up-tempo and aggressive given the makeup of his D, but I also question if he is capable of playing that style, even with a better D corps on the roster. He plays it very conservatively and appears (to me anyway) to be a poor "in-game adjustment" coach for the most part. If Neely and Sweeney want to play a more aggressive, attacking style of game, I am not sure Clode is the best choice. However, I don't see much out there that's better (and proven). So, I'm on the fence with Clode. I would not be surprised if he was fired, given the collapse down the stretch two years in a row and Neely's public frustration with his conservative coaching style. On the other hand, I wouldn't be shocked if Neely and Sweeney said, "Clode, our bad, we didn't give you the ammo you needed this year to me more aggressive, and we want you back".

Not sure this helps anybody with their thought process on this and I could be 180 degrees off (but I doubt it ).

Although you make a lot of great points you again like to pretend the defense is all juliens doing. I am going to give you more credit than some of the other guys . I am not even going to respond to guys who say julien signed kemp. I think you know Sweeney easily could've changed who was used on defense. He ships K miller out , trotman if need be than suddenly your boy cmiller and morrow are battling cross for ice time. You know this yet you want to pretend it was all julien. Sweeney even brought in liles lol to block them further so you can have any opinion you want on who you like but please be real.

Over conservative

boston 234 goals for 222 against

Chicago 230 goals 202 against-----jeez when we open up against this non talented hawk team we will have fun

In reality Washington, Pittsburgh, dallas and sjose have outscored us. I tend to think as far as the year goes the GA is the problem. I don't really think that is cause we opened up too much . I think we just don't have as good as defense or as many good defensive forwards. I know he is defense first but in reality so are the other 29 coaches I know ruff doesn't say play fire wagon hockey.

Hockey always tightens up before and during playoffs, this probably explains our struggles of late, we just cant shut it down like in the past .

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Sounds like an agenda driven article if they think "it's time for Claude to go".

 

[indy]

Sounds like an agenda driven article if they think "it's time for Claude to go".

Here is another "agenda driven" article.

Its all entertainment in the end.


http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/h...6/04/04/firing-claude-julien-would-be-mistake

 

[chizzler]

Not the year to get rid of Clode. Team has over achieved and some days they have played to what they really are. This team is in transition. No coach is going to do better right now. I don't agree with some of his choices but no coach is perfect. Until Sweeney ices his real team, I wouldn't move him. He might do great with Sweeneys guys there. All leagues' coaches are as good as their players. Coaching is a factor, but without the horses, his hands are tied. Maintain the pace.
Offseason going to be interesting.

 

[doubleminor138]

Sounds like an agenda driven article if they think "it's time for Claude to go".

I read a little of the article. Its like Julien porked Erik Wilbur's old lady before he wrote it.

 

[Fenway]

Don't fire Claude. He's the one reason we were talking about the playoffs in the first place. This team is held together by three things: Rask, Julien, and duct tape.

So many teams would KILL to have Claude. He's not perfect - he may not even be the best coach in the area where he works. But he's a damn lot better than what he'd be replaced with.

 

[BNHL]

Last year his refusal to separate Eriksson from a woefully struggling Soderberg and Kelly cost them a playoff spot,in my opinion. This year does it come down to 1 shootout?? I thought his share of the blame pie was a lot greater last year. This year they tanked in the home stretch,couldn't finish and not enough NHL ready talent.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

It's time for a change, last year was his mulligan for that disaster of a season, year 2 it's starting to become a trend especially with the late season collapses. Hockey is a results oriented business, can't continue to live on past glory. We need a more modern coach, not another systems junkie, especially with all of the young talent knocking on the door, tired of seeing CJ trying to pigeonhole every single forward into the same player, need a coach who recognizes that some offensively gifted players need more rope in order to realize their full abilities much like we are now seeing with the likes of Seguin and Wheeler in different cities. I wish him all the best if he does indeed lose his job, his best fit would be in Ottawa where they need a coach to bring structure to that team, especially Karlsson and his freewheeling no defense way.

 

[Blowfish]

Claude formally announced change at the start of the season as per the request of Sweeney etc... He failed miserably. Loved Claude but he couldn't incorporate the tools provided to him to meet new NHL game of skilled players.

Bye Bye.

 

[TheBigBadB]

Two years in a row they collapsed down the stretch. Some new players same result. Where is the constant? That's Julien. It's either players have tuned him out or he is not pushing the right buttons anymore. He absolutely must go.

Regardless if he goes or not , this team will probably not be good next season too. We didn't develop any new core players and the old core will be that much older too. Not as bad on the forwards but defense is turning into a nursing home. We do have some rocky times ahead

 

[DNE3]

Just the natural order of events here. One-time champion team winds down, hangs on for a bit in a weak conference but then flattens out. Julien is as kryptonite to emerging youth and skill which is cause enough for his dismissal during rebuild phase, and when Talbot reemerges for the umpteenth time, and Koko now prospect history, the clock on Julien ran out as I watched. Julien will be lucky to catch on with an expansion team looking for stability out of the gate, after all, Montreal already fired him once previous.

 

[VanIsle]

The defense is going to be even worse next year, a few more clicks on the speedometer and a little more wear on the goodyears.

They must pick up someone via free agency.
Heres the list

http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/ufa/defenseman/

Will Yandle save this team, we are in trouble kids.

Julien or no Julien this team needs to be revamped on the backend.

 

[LSCII]

The defense is going to be even worse next year, a few more clicks on the speedometer and a little more wear on the goodyears.

They must pick up someone via free agency.
Heres the list

http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/ufa/defenseman/

Will Yandle save this team, we are in trouble kids.

Julien or no Julien this team needs to be revamped on the backend.

Yandle is grossly overrated offensively and sucks at playing defense. I wouldn't want to be on the hook for the term or dollars he's going to be looking for...

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Here is another "agenda driven" article.

Its all entertainment in the end.


http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/h...6/04/04/firing-claude-julien-would-be-mistake

I'd agree with this one much more. It at least acknowledges Claude has faults.

I wonder what Haggs is writing.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Just the natural order of events here. One-time champion team winds down, hangs on for a bit in a weak conference but then flattens out. And when Talbot reemerges for the umpteenth time, and Koko now prospect history, the clock on Julien ran out as I watched. Julien is like kryptonite to emerging youth and skill which is enough reason for him to go during rebuild phase. Julien will be lucky to catch on with an expansion team looking for stability out of the gate, after all, Montreal already fired him once.

Can you imagine Julien coaching a team full of young players?

Say, like that 1997 Hull Olympiques team that won its only Memorial Cup in its 42 year history.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

If the Bs don't make the playoffs then he should be done here. Coaches have a shelf-life and it is a result based business. Give him an elite D core to work with and he is an elite coach, give him a poor D core to work with and he is a very, very poor coach.

Give the job to Cassidy.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

Can you imagine Julien coaching a team full of young players?

Say, like that 1997 Hull Olympiques team that won its only Memorial Cup in its 42 year history.

They were "younger" than the other QMJHL teams? Obviously, "young" is a relative term here...

 

[Spooner st]

Can you imagine Julien coaching a team full of young players?

Say, like that 1997 Hull Olympiques team that won its only Memorial Cup in its 42 year history.

Julien is also the only coach who won a cup for Boston in the last 42+ years.
Only God knows wen will get another one.
So much blame to go around... Somehow it's all Julien's fault.

 

[Spooner st]

If the Bs don't make the playoffs then he should be done here. Coaches have a shelf-life and it is a result based business. Give him an elite D core to work with and he is an elite coach, give him a poor D core to work with and he is a very, very poor coach.

Give the job to Cassidy.[/B]

 

[plemur]

One of the great coaches of this generation, to be sure, but it's sadly time for a change. The defensive stability once a key to his methods and strategies has passed into a growing chaos as age and personnel changes have taken their toll. I appreciate his abilities and genius as much as anyone but this team is no longer the one he was able to mold into a champion.

This story, as well as others, feel like a preparatory speech for a break up. Were they suggested by the Bruins management to the writers? I don't know. I doubt it, but I also do not doubt that those around the press box, locker room and day to day operations can smell something in the air. Hell, we smell it from Causeway Street. His time is at an end. The Germans have a word for what most of us will feel over the next couple of years: Sehnsucht. We'll yearn for the nostalgia of Julien and his responsible system but hopefully that feeling will be tempered by a renewed hope with a new system with the kids flying around the ice. There are some nice up and coming players in the system and core players who can keep the ship on an even keel, so it shouldn't be disastrous to try something new right now.

Here's to Clode and his successes, and also to what is to come.

 

[indy]

I'd agree with this one much more. It at least acknowledges Claude has faults.

I wonder what Haggs is writing.

Now Haggs definitely has an agenda.

I don't think he has the chops to clarify it though.

 

[Fenway]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/hockey-central-bruins-overachieved/


The Hockey Central at Noon panel talk about what could happen to Claude Julien if the Boston Bruins fail to make the playoffs.