Bruins Notes: Julien, Beleskey, Becker

As was reported earlier, the Boston Bruins are set to address the public tomorrow about their coaching situation. The announcement will be made regardless of the result in tonight’s match-up against the Original Six rival Chicago Blackhawks. ESPN New Hampshire’s Jimmy Murphy has been keeping a close eye on the situation and believes that, good or bad, a decision has already been made on head coach Claude Julien and the bench boss knows what it is. However, no one else seems to know what it is and speculation is running rampant. Murphy added fuel to the fire by releasing a picture of the Bruins’ internal PR schedule, which features Julien’s name specifically throughout the coming week. So is Julien safe?

Julien has seemingly been on the hot seat for three seasons. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, returning to the final in 2013, and winning the President’s Trophy as the league’s top regular season team in 2013-14, back-to-back seasons of missing the playoffs has been unacceptable in Boston, and a possible third in the making requires swift handling. By slim margins or not, the Bruins missing the postseason draws much attention in a city where, since the turn of the century, every pro sports team is expected to not just make the playoffs, but challenge for a championship every year. While many still believe the Bruins will qualify in 2016-17, heads will roll if they don’t and the front office may decide to cut the coach loose before that happens to lessen the blow of missing the playoffs once again. Boston is currently tied for second place with the Ottawa Senators in the Atlantic Division with 52 points, which may not seem so bad, but the Sens have five games in hand, as do the Toronto Maple Leafs right behind them with 50 points. Even the Florida Panthers with 49 points and game in hand and the red-hot Detroit Red Wings, who came back from a three-goal deficit to defeat the B’s on Wednesday to move within six points with three games in hand, are starting to threaten the Bruins playoff hopes. The Bruins are 4-4-2 in their last ten, including that devastating loss to Detroit and shutouts at the hands of bottom-dwellers like the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils.

However, is firing Julien really the right move? The long-time Bruins coach is approaching his 1,000th NHL game behind the bench and has won far more than half of those games, including more than 400 wins in Boston. He won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2009 and is well-respected around the world of hockey. Many have claimed that Julien’s greatest weakness is that he does not work well with young players. However, David Pastrnak, Frank Vatrano and rookies Brandon Carlo and Austin Czarnik have been bright spots for the Bruins in 2016-17. Julien was also not the one who traded Tyler Seguin or Blake Wheeler, both of whom were playing well with him as their head coach, but simply still developing. The Bruins organization has not done well with young talent, but the head coach is not wholly to blame. Many have also argued that Julien has struggled with the power play, and well that has been true from time to time, the Bruins scored on both man-up tries against Detroit on Wednesday and their power play has been increasingly better over the past month. Some Julien mistakes, like the mismanagement of Ryan Spooner and Colin Miller and an inability to find good balance in the forward lines this season, are more inexcusable, but the Bruins struggles reach far beyond that. Does Julien deserve some blame? Yes. However, firing the most successful coach in team history in a season where they still have a very good chance of making the playoffs may be ill-advised for Boston. The decision appears to have been made and the announcement will come tomorrow.

• With the decision on his coach’s fate already made, Matt Beleskey’s return to the Bruins lineup may be coming a few games too late. However, the team will greatly benefit from having the big forward back in the lineup tonight against the Blackhawks. Beleskey has been out with a knee injury since earlier December, but is returning just in time with the Bruins struggling to both find scoring and to play a more physical defensive game. With Frank Vatrano suffering an injury prior to the beginning of the season and Beleskey getting hurt before Vatrano’s recent return, tonight marks the first time in 2016-17 that the Bruins will have the full complement of forwards that they had expected to have at the ready all season. Although Beleskey is expected to skate alongside Dominic Moore and Austin Czarnik on the fourth line tonight, the Bruins are still trying to find a balance up front and can afford to ease Beleskey back in while they hunt for line chemistry. After scoring a career-high 37 points as a top-nine player for the Bruins last season, he’ll be back in that role sooner rather than later.

• Bruins prospect Jack Becker has announced his commitment to play college hockey at Michigan Tech.  Drafted by the Bruins in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL Draft with little experience beyond high school hockey, Becker was supposed to follow fellow Bruins prospects Trent Frederic and Cameron Hughes to the University of Wisconsin. However, slow development at the junior level with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede changed those plans. Becker is still Division I-bound though, as he heads to Michigan Tech next season. Becker does not project to be an NHL player as of now, but the Bruins signed Frank Vatrano as an undrafted underclassmen out of just an average college program in UMass-Amherst and so far he looks like a sure-fire NHLer. The B’s can only hope that Becker develops late in the same way.