Julien

History teaches us that with the Boston Bruins, you never know. But really, since general manager Peter Chiarelli took over and the front office was overhauled, there have been few shenanigans, so there’s no reason to believe that there’s anything but a contract extension coming for head coach Claude Julien when the team holds a 10 a.m. press conference at TD Bank Garden tomorrow.

Julien won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year in the NHL last season and is entering the final year of a three-year deal.

Julien

LAS VEGAS — You cover a coach for two full seasons, more than 170 games that count plus exhibitions and practices and off days, and you still don’t get to know much about what makes him tick. That’s especially the case when it comes to Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien, who’s as allergic to media attention on him as Superman is to Kryptonite.

But in the hours before it was announced he won the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year in the NHL, I got to at least pick Julien’s brain about his career influences for the first time.

“I don’t think there are too many people that aren’t going to idolize Scotty Bowman,” Julien said at The Palms Casino and Resort. “I had the opportunity to meet him early in my career and when I first got to Montreal he was one of the guys that came and talked to me. So it was a great. … Every coach I’ve had has left something with me. Whether it’s been Robbie Ftorek and Michel Bergeron, Doug Carpenter or even your junior coaches. (more…)

LAS VEGAS — If there’s one common link between the Boston Bruins’ three award winners who were honored tonight at the 2009 NHL Awards ceremony at The Palms Casino and Resort, it’s perseverance in the face of naysayers and doubters.

Tim Thomas had to prove himself over and over for a decade on two different continents before he was given an NHL shot. Zdeno Chara had to convince people on two continents that someone as tall as some of the world’s biggest basketball players could succeed on ice. And Claude Julien had to rebound after two confusing firings before taking over the Bruins and turning around the franchise’s fortunes.

Tonight Thomas was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender, Chara won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman and Julien captured the Jack Adams Trophy as the coach of the year in the NHL.
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Chiarelli

Fresh off their club winning the regular-season Eastern Conference title and winning a round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in a decade, Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and Principal Charlie Jacobs updated those on a media conference call about the negotiations to extend general manager Peter Chiarelli’s contract.

Chiarelli agreed to a four-year deal when he was hired in the spring of 2006, so he is entering the final year of his contract. Head coach Claude Julien might also be due an extension, as it is widely believed (although it has never been officially revealed) that the bench boss received a three-year deal when he was hired in the spring of 2007.

“We’re in the midst of negotiations with Peter. As I said before, when we hired Peter, I do find that the head coaching position should fall under the purview of the GM. And in as much, that’s in Peter’s bailiwick to negotiate with Claude and his staff,” Charlie Jacobs said. (more…)

Julien

The Sporting News today announced that Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien has been voted its Coach of the Year.

The magazine lauded the Bruins’ bench boss as follows: “Julien, whose team posted a gaudy 53-19-10 record and 116 points in his second season at the helm, molded the Bruins into a league power by instituting a more offensive style and an effective blueprint for dealing with players.”

Julien is a finalist for the league’s coach of the year award — the Jack Adams Trophy — which was voted on my the league’s broadcasters and will be presented June 18 at NHL Awards Night in Las Vegas.

RALEIGH — Boston Bruins head coach  Claude Julien gave his players a complete day off today after they lost to Carolina, 3-2, in overtime in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series and fell behind two games to one.

The players were free to do what they wanted, with some playing Xbox in a team lounge and others lingering in the mall area near where they’re staying.

With no player media availability, the bench boss was left to answer for his pupils in the aftermath of their heartbreaking defeat.

“We’re not in trouble,” Julien said in the lobby of his team’s hotel. “We’re in a series that’s a hard-fought series. What we have to do probably is get our game going in the right direction, which means our commitment to outworking the other team and our commitment to making better decisions on the ice. And I think it’s a combination of both … again, it’s a mindset. We’ve struggled the last couple games but there’s ups and downs in a season.

“You win a game, you’re Stanley Cup contenders. You lose one, you’re in trouble. That’s what you have to face every day. We just have to keep our focus on what we have to do, believe in ourselves and go out and do that.” (more…)

Would you buy a Snuggie from Claude Julien?

BOSTON — Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien was at it again tonight. When his team needed a jolt offensively, he switched up the lines. When his team needed a breather after an icing, he called a timeout to save the day.

It was all in a night’s work for the Jack Adams Trophy finalist, who has seemingly pushed the right buttons throughout this incredible Boston Bruins season that now features the Eastern Conference’s top seed sitting ahead 1-0 in its best-of-seven conference semifinal with Carolina after a 4-1 win at TD Banknorth Garden.

For the most part this season, Julien has kept the centers and right wingers together and moved around the left wingers. And every time he makes a change, goal production follows. Tonight he went back to the alignment that worked best when the Bruins were building their insurmountable conference lead in December and January, in particular with Milan Lucic joining Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. That combination paid instant dividends early in the second period, right after the realignment took place, with Boston’s go-ahead goal 7:21 into the middle period.

“I guess you want me to say it’s a skillful decision, but it’s probably a little bit of luck too I think,” said Savard with a chuckle. “But he’s done that all year. And he seems to pull the right numbers out of the hat a lot of times and tonight was a great example of that. Maybe that’s why he’s up for coach of the year? There’s a lot of reasons and that’s probably one of them.” (more…)

Julien

Last season, Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien took a team most experts left for dead before the regular season started and led the Black and Gold to their first postseason berth in four years. But the NHL Broadcasters’ Association didn’t acknowledge Julien’s job when the finalists for the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year were selected.

This time around, Julien and the work he did to get the Bruins to win the top seed in the Eastern Conference nearly wire to wire finally during the 2008-09 season got a little respect. Julien was announced as a finalist for this year’s Jack Adams Trophy along with San Jose head coach Todd McClellan and St. Louis bench boss Andy Murray.

If you want to know who should win this award, just look at the candidates and think about which one’s team is still playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs and which ones are going golfing. (more…)

Ryder

MONTREAL — In pro sports, what goes around tends to come around. So you weren’t expecting Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien and winger Michael Ryder to publicly gloat after the Black and Gold finished off their old team the Montreal Canadiens with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at Bell Centre.

One reporter even tried to convince Julien that Montreal head coach/general manager Bob Gainey, the man who once fired Julien, didn’t make eye contact in the postgame handshake. Julien was quick to shoot down that theory and any ideas the media had about Julien feeling extra satisfaction that Gainey was on the opposite bench for the Bruins’ triumph.

“The one thing I can tell you right now, everybody would like me to say what would make them happy, I guess, as far as revenge is concerned,” said Julien after his team completed a four-game sweep. “But Bob Gainey did not enjoy firing me. Neither did Lou Lamoriello (in New Jersey), if we want to talk about that stuff. Nobody enjoys doing that job. …You’ve got to be able to separate business from personal things. … There’s no reason for me to be sitting here and saying I’m bitter.”

Ryder scored twice in the game and assisted on the game-winner by linemate David Krejci with just 34.4 seconds left in the first period. All series long he held firm to the notion that playing against the team he bitterly left last summer as a free agent wasn’t any sweeter. But after the victory, he at least revealed a little bit of his spiteful side. (more…)

The Bruins' system: greater than the solar system.

MONTREAL — If Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien were the type to rub his former employers’ noses in his current success, he could take a video of tonight’s third period and ship it off to Lou Lamoriello.

Luckily for Julien, he could save on postage with Bob Gainey because unlike the New Jersey Devils’ czar, the Montreal Canadiens’ general manager/head coach had a front-row seat for the clinic the Bruins put on in playing their coach’s system to perfection to close out a 4-2 win over the Habs in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at Bell Centre.

Protecting a 3-2 lead, Boston outshot the Habs just 7-5 — and they wouldn’t have wanted it any other way en route to a 3-0 series lead. The goal was to limit the Habs chances, and you could’ve counted Montreal’s opportunities to tie the game on one finger. The Bruins moved the puck from stick to stick, supported each other, gave each other outlets and, most importantly had each other’s back at the odd times a Habs player got behind the Bruins’ back line.

“We didn’t panic on our breakouts. We didn’t just rim pucks,” Julien said after the game. “They were a lot more aggressive along the boards tonight, but we made some good plays, tape-to-tape passes. We stopped turning pucks over in the neutral zone, started getting pucks in deep, and those little things are so important at this time of year.” (more…)

Julien

Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien didn’t hesitate to tweak his power-play alignments in order to squeeze as much production as he could from his man-advantage in last night’s 4-2 win over Montreal in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the archrivals at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

The night started with Matt Hunwick at one point on the top unit opposite Dennis Wideman. By the second power play, Patrice Bergeron had dropped back to the point next to Wideman. And in the third period, it was Zdeno Chara in that spot and Phil Kessel up front in Michael Ryder’s place. Kessel wound up getting the secondary assist on Chara’s game-winning power-play goal late in the third period.

“We just twisted things around a little bit,” said Julien after the game. “You know, sometimes you try and find a little bit of a spark. I thought our power play earlier on probably wasn’t as good as we know it can be, so we just kind of fine-tuned things and it worked out in our favor.”

Julien

It was pointed out to Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien yesterday that one of the turning points of his club’s season came March 20. That day, after his team had squandered a lead and lost to Los Angeles in overtime the night before, Julien had the choice between skating his team hard or putting his troops through a fun-filled scrimmage.

The team had lost four of six after that defeat. After what most players called a “fun but useful, high-paced” scrimmage, the team righted the ship, won its next six games and cruised to the top seed in the East.

“We just kind of went back and forth and it was just one of those situations where, when we walked out of our meeting and I kind of walked around the room a little bit and saw our players, it became clear which direction I wanted to take,” said Julien about a decision that he agreed in hindsight proved to be the correct one. “And I talked to our coaches again and I said, ‘You know what? There’s no doubt in my mind this is what we should be doing today.’ And we took that direction.”

Consider that decision Exhibit ‘A’ in Julien’s case for winning the Jack Adams Trophy as the league’s Coach of the Year. There’s no telling, however, if the league’s voting broadcasters will agree.

OK, this came up yesterday after practice, so now it’s up to you, my loyal readers to decide:

Head coach Claude Julien & “Get Smart” actor Ed Platt

Julien

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Yesterday I wrote about the Boston Bruins’ need to get Manny Fernandez more playing time so he can be of help in the playoffs.

Today after the Bruins practiced at Ristuccia Arena, a TV reporter asked Bruins head coach Claude Julien if he still had confidence in Fernandez despite his poor play the last five times he’s gotten the start. The coach’s response started pretty boiler-plate and then ended with a mystery.

“Absolutely, there are no issues there. What people see on the outside and what’s happening on the inside are two different things,” Julien said. “We talk, (Fernandez) knows exactly what’s going on and there’s things that not everybody needs to know about and I’ll leave it at that.”

If this were the old-school Batman show with Adam West as the Caped Crusader, those last 12 or so words would’ve ended the episode and that announcer voice would’ve piped in with something like:

Could Manny Fernandez be hurt?

Could Fernandez not want to play?

Is Julien waiting to spring Fernandez on an unsuspecting foe down the road?

Will The Penguin leave Batman at the North Pole?

Check back tomorrow. Same Bruins Time. Same Bruins channel.

Alas, this is not a Batman episode (too bad, we could use a dose of Catwoman right about now), it’s the NHL. So unless there’s a major breach of security, we won’t know what Julien means. And instead we’ll just wait to see how these last 11 games unfold — with or without Fernandez.

Julien

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins didn’t get called for their first too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty until Nov. 15 and were called for that infraction just twice leading up to Feb. 7

But since that early February game with Philadelphia, the Bruins have been called four times, including twice in today’s 2-1 win over the New York Islanders at TD Banknorth Garden. While the Bruins killed off one of the ensuing power plays, the Isles scored their lone goal during the 4-on-4 situation that took place after the first bench minor at 9:09 of the second period.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien said that the bench minors are a perfect example of the lack of 100 percent focus and concentration the Bruins have struggled with recently.

“The first two-thirds of the year, we didn’t have, or I don’t recall, having too many men on the ice. In the last three weeks we’ve had a bunch of them from guys not … coming to the bench hard and the other guy jumping too early and just not being sharp,” said the coach. “Those are things … it’s not about sending too many guys. It’s the one-for-one change that’s costing us right now.

“The perfect example is the last one we had at the end of the second. We’ve got basically a 4-on-3, I think, and Phil (Kessel‘s) pass doesn’t make onto a stick and our last guy’s taking his time coming to the bench and ends up getting us in trouble.”