The St. Louis Blues have hired former Stanley Cup champion head coach Claude Julien to their coaching staff as an assistant coach and made a few other moves to their coaching staff. Julien led the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup back in 2011 and has been an NHL head coach for 19 seasons beginning his career with the Montreal Canadiens back in 2002.
Julien lasted three seasons in Montreal and then moved to New Jersey and spent just a single season with the Devils before joining the Bruins where he served as head coach for ten years. During that run, Julien accumulated a franchise record of 419 regular season wins and was named the 2009 Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s best coach. The Bruins made seven trips to the playoffs during his run behind the bench and played in two Stanley Cup Finals. Julien returned to Montreal in 2016 and coached the Canadiens for another five years until 2021.
The Blues have also promoted former player Steve Ott to associate coach and extended his contract through the 2025-26 season. Ott has served behind the Blues bench for eight years and was a big part of their 2019 Stanley Cup championship. Ott is a veteran of 848 NHL games spread out over 14 seasons, three of which he played in St. Louis.
In addition to the hiring, St. Louis has also extended the contracts of assistant coach Mike Weber and goaltending coach David Alexander through the 2025-26 season.
Gotta be weird for Claude Julien to be below Steve Ott in the St. Louis coaching pecking order.
I think Claude Julien will be a great asset to help Bannister!! I’m happy for Steve Ott. I wish they would’ve given Ott the head coaching job!!