Julien on Bergevin and Drouin

Fenway

HF Bookie and Bruins Historian
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Sep 26, 2007
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Julien gave his first interview to a Boston media member since being fired and then taking the Montreal job.

Of note his family has decided to stay in Boston because of school concerns.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com...en-reflects-boston-looks-ahead-facing-bruins/

McDonald: After your tenure ended in Boston, and you quickly landed a job back with the Canadiens, what was it like for you the way it played out?

Julien: The most important thing is I want to work with somebody I thought I could work well with, and I worked with Marc Bergevin (for Team Canada) at the World Cup and we had good chemistry there, so that’s an important part for a coach to work with a general manager that seems to be on the same page and work well together. You’re not necessarily on the same page and agree on everything, but you have the same philosophy.

McDonald: With your time in Boston in the rear view mirror and you’re focused on the Canadiens, what’s your outlook on the team going into training camp?

Julien: Well, there’s obviously been a lot of changes. Signing (Carey) Price was a big signing for us to keep our solid goaltending. The acquisition of (Jonathan) Drouin, who is a young and upcoming player, and we had to give up a good defenseman (Mikhail Sergachev) but we had to make some of those moves, and we lost (Alexander) Radulov and (Andrei) Markov has gone back to the KHL, but at the same time, we have to break the young guys in and mold our team to what we’d like it to be. There are going to be some challenges, but there’s going to be some good, young blood coming into the organization that we hope will help us take the leap in the right direction.

McDonald: You mentioned Drouin, you’ve helped develop numerous young players in the Bruins organization, including Marchand, Lucic and Krejci, so how does that experience help as you prepare to coach Drouin?

Julien: When Jonathan was in Tampa, they had (Steven) Stamkos and Tyler Johnson, just to name a few guys, real top-notch players. In Montreal, there’s no doubt Drouin will be playing on the top two lines. With our needs, he’s going to be utilized probably more than he was in Tampa. He’s going to flourish under the amount of ice time he’s going to get and he’s going to flourish under the challenges we’re going to give him. He’s excited to be here. He’s a young player with tons and tons of potential, so we’re hoping to benefit from that potential. He’s excited to be here and we’re excited to have him and we’re off to a good start.
 

Scriptor

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Jan 1, 2014
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Julien gave his first interview to a Boston media member since being fired and then taking the Montreal job.

Of note his family has decided to stay in Boston because of school concerns.

https://www.bostonsportsjournal.com...en-reflects-boston-looks-ahead-facing-bruins/

And here I thought, reading Habs forums across the net -- that it might've been because of the disconcerting lack of job security for a coach or GM in the Montreal market, even with a long term contract in your pocket! ;)

For those who might've missed it from the interview ;), working well with the GM and having the same philosophy also obviously involved both agreeing that Julien was worth a guaranteed 25M over 5 years!

Well, if Julien is going to say what he said to the reporter in Boston about how he plans to use Drouin, he's probably serious about it because he wasn't just playing up a local boy to local reporters.
 

Bergevillain

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Aug 1, 2014
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He's going to flourish under the amount of ice time he's going to get and he's going to flourish under the challenges we're going to give him

If only Therrien had the same attitude toward a certain could-be Centerman
 

Hoople

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Mar 7, 2011
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And here I thought, reading Habs forums across the net -- that it might've been because of the disconcerting lack of job security for a coach or GM in the Montreal market, even with a long term contract in your pocket! ;)

For those who might've missed it from the interview ;), working well with the GM and having the same philosophy also obviously involved both agreeing that Julien was worth a guaranteed 25M over 5 years!

Well, if Julien is going to say what he said to the reporter in Boston about how he plans to use Drouin, he's probably serious about it because he wasn't just playing up a local boy to local reporters.

Holy ****. Julien will be raked over the coals on this Forum now.
 

Lafleurs Guy

Guuuuuuuy!
Jul 20, 2007
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You don't find it weird he names 2 centers when talking about Tampa? And then says we'll give him the opportunity to flourish... And throws in a "with our needs".
Meh... I don't read it as him coming in as a center.
 

Adam Michaels

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Jun 12, 2016
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If only Therrien had the same attitude toward a certain could-be Centerman

I'm still holding out hope for Galchenyuk growing under Julien. One of CJ's qualities is his communication skills. An example I look to that gives me hope is Nazem Kadri with the Leafs. For years, Kadri had the skill set but was lacking in other areas of the game. Enter a real coach in Babcock and the guy has been molded into a more complete center (he was 20th in Selke votes).

As for Galchenyuk, though I don't look for him to be a Selke caliber player, I think Julien can help him complete his game the way Babcock helped Kadri. CJ did say that ideally, Galchenyuk will be a center. So even if he plays wing, there is a chance CJ will aim to form him into a center.
 

OldCraig71

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Feb 2, 2009
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No one cares
Claude Julien is a well respected coach but he demands defensive responsibility and any center that plays for him will have to be able to play well at both ends of the ice.
 

M.C.G. 31

Damn, he brave!
Oct 6, 2008
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At least we don't have a coach who preaches making young players "better people" anymore. It's refreshing.
 

WhiskeySeven*

Expect the expected
Jun 17, 2007
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Almost every press conference CJ held was refreshing. A lot of the things he said, and more importantly, how he explained his answers, was a breath of fresh air.
The bar was low but I felt he did well.

Though the hockey we played wasn't impressive and I'm more than a bit pessimistic when it comes to him and his style. Remember the Bruins? The survived off the skin of their teeth and Tim Thomas pulling out magic of his #MAGA hat. They dove, played dirty, whined whined whined, and only won due to massive luck and Daddy Campbell.

My relief that Therrien's gone all but dissipated when the Habs struggled to score even TWO measly goals a game. Every PP felt agonising. Going down a goal felt like a root canal.

Clod's got a lot to live up to.
 

Link67

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Oct 8, 2016
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The bar was low but I felt he did well.

Though the hockey we played wasn't impressive and I'm more than a bit pessimistic when it comes to him and his style. Remember the Bruins? The survived off the skin of their teeth and Tim Thomas pulling out magic of his #MAGA hat. They dove, played dirty, whined whined whined, and only won due to massive luck and Daddy Campbell.

My relief that Therrien's gone all but dissipated when the Habs struggled to score even TWO measly goals a game. Every PP felt agonising. Going down a goal felt like a root canal.

Clod's got a lot to live up to.

While I agree to some extent, lets not pretend Clod took over an offensive dynamo, he was brought in to make sure the train did not derail again. He could easily assess as any one of us could, that this team was not going to win games by winning high scoring affairs. So he played the % and made sure he coached this team to win more games than not by preventing goals to the best of their ability and making the best of the chances they get.

In the end we had a successful record under his watch, and given a whole offseason, training camp, and pre season to morph this team properly to his liking, while delivering a new message, a breath of fresh air, and a general positivity to how he does things. His involvement for a full season is also an X-Factor that can easily be Overlooked, but it does have its part to play in the outcome of next season.
 

WhiskeySeven*

Expect the expected
Jun 17, 2007
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770
While I agree to some extent, lets not pretend Clod took over an offensive dynamo, he was brought in to make sure the train did not derail again. He could easily assess as any one of us could, that this team was not going to win games by winning high scoring affairs. So he played the % and made sure he coached this team to win more games than not by preventing goals to the best of their ability and making the best of the chances they get.

In the end we had a successful record under his watch, and given a whole offseason, training camp, and pre season to morph this team properly to his liking, while delivering a new message, a breath of fresh air, and a general positivity to how he does things. His involvement for a full season is also an X-Factor that can easily be Overlooked, but it does have its part to play in the outcome of next season.
We became the lowest scoring team in the league if I'm not mistaken. He started the playoffs with Chucky-Ott-Martinsen as the fourth line.

You bring up a good point that he was brought in to settle things down. But he settled them down too much - we're impotent.

Not only that - his Bruins weren't exactly world-beaters either and they had fantastic centre depth, equally good tending as us, and probably a better d-corps.

He's a better coach than Therrien but I'm curious what people are expecting and what people are excusing from his performance up-to-date. I was unimpressed in the playoffs, game 2 notwithstanding.
 

Belial

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Oct 22, 2014
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30 games that's all it took... And I'm supposed to believe that people don't complain for the sake of complaining all the time around here?
 

Scriptor

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Jan 1, 2014
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The bar was low but I felt he did well.

lol. I feel the same way.

Though the hockey we played wasn't impressive and I'm more than a bit pessimistic when it comes to him and his style. Remember the Bruins? The survived off the skin of their teeth and Tim Thomas pulling out magic of his #MAGA hat. They dove, played dirty, whined whined whined, and only won due to massive luck and Daddy Campbell.

I'm not really a fan of Julien for precisely that, but he does bring quality with the players that Therrien clearly lacked, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I may not end up liking his system, but I actually have confidence that he can make the players buy into it, at least in the first full season and the next, and that results may well come of it.

My relief that Therrien's gone all but dissipated when the Habs struggled to score even TWO measly goals a game. Every PP felt agonising. Going down a goal felt like a root canal.

Clod's got a lot to live up to.


I more concerned with Julien's insistence on using Molasses King to no end and playing Plekanec, his shutdown C who hadn't generated any Offense all year, but had scored one goal in the playoffs, continuously while we desperately needed to score to even up a game, all but during the final shifts of the series!

Claude has been better than I expected in the interviews, though. Hasn't triggered the whining phase yet. ;)
 

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