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Claude Julien

Poll: Was Firing Claude Julien The Right Decision?

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The Montreal Canadiens have made the first coaching change of the season, firing veteran bench boss Claude Julien and replacing him, at least for now, with Dominique Ducharme. Julien was hired by the Canadiens in 2017 after being let go by the Boston Bruins, inking a new expensive five-year deal with Montreal. He didn’t make it through that full contract (it has a year left), but his tenure there wasn’t actually all that unsuccessful. Sure, the Canadiens didn’t make it very deep in the postseason, but they did get there in two of his four chances.

Overall, the Canadiens were 129-113-35 under Julien this time around, but back-to-back losses against the Ottawa Senators eventually sealed his fate. General manager Marc Bergevin told reporters including Arpon Basu of The Athletic today that when the Canadiens had last week off between games, he gave Julien and his staff the benefit of the doubt that he would turn things around. Three straight losses out of the break obviously showed things hadn’t changed, so he made the move to give the younger Ducharme a chance.

The former CHL Coach of the Year has obviously been groomed for this role and will be given the rest of the 2020-21 season to make his case to continue as head coach into the future. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Bergevin won’t even be reaching out to other coaching candidates for the time being, giving Ducharme his chance instead. LeBrun also notes that Gerard Gallant, who has been thrown around as a potential replacement in Montreal, would not be willing to take an associate or assistant coach role–he’s waiting for a head coaching position.

Even though Julien’s recent history wasn’t great, it’s important to remember just how successful he’s been as a coach in the NHL. His overall record of 667-445-10-152 gives him a .587 points percentage, meaning his teams average over 96 points a season. He sits 13th on the all-time wins list and lifted the Stanley Cup as head coach of the Bruins in 2011.

Was it the right move for Montreal? Will this be able to turn their season around, given how readily available a playoff spot seems in the North Division? Is Ducharme the right coach to lead them moving forward? Vote on the poll below and make sure you leave your thoughts in the comment section.

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Claude Julien Fired By Montreal Canadiens

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The Montreal Canadiens have made a change behind the bench, relieving head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller of their duties. Dominique Ducharme, who had been serving as an assistant, will serve as interim head coach, while Alexandre Burrows has joined the coaching staff. Luke Richardson and Stephane Waite will retain their respective duties with the staff.

GM Marc Bergevin released a statement:

I would like to sincerely thank Claude and Kirk for their contributions to our team over the past five years during which we worked together. I have great respect for these two men whom I hold in high regard. In Dominique Ducharme, we see a very promising coach who will bring new life and new energy to our group. We feel that our team can achieve high standards and the time had come for a change.

Earlier in the season, the Canadiens appeared ready to challenge for the top spot in the North Division, with a high-powered offense led by newcomers Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson. Unfortunately, some of that offense has dried up and the team has come apart at the seams, losing back-to-back games against the Ottawa Senators. Those two losses certainly punctuate a drop in play, but it was obvious for some time that the Canadiens weren’t as good as their early-season results.

They had the Vancouver Canucks number especially, but against non-Vancouver teams, the Canadiens had just a 5-5-3 record on the year. Recently, the coach had made drastic moves to try and spark the team like scratching Tomas Tatar, the team’s 2019-20 scoring leader. When that didn’t work, the hammer had to come down on someone and it turned out to be Julien.

It’s not like Ducharme has no experience running a bench though. The interim coach was an incredibly successful junior coach, winning the CHL Coach of the Year award in 2013. He has been the head coach of Canada’s World Junior team twice, winning gold in 2018. This will be, however, his first time as a head coach in the NHL. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that there is not another change expected before the end of the season.

For Julien, the term “relieved of duties” was used because he has one more year on his contract at $5MM, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. That means any team hoping to hire Julien will need to approach the Canadiens and negotiate a deal to pay at least some of that remaining salary. Otherwise, Montreal will pay him to stay at home for the next year.

If the old hockey adage of “show me a good coach and I’ll show you a good goalie” is true, perhaps it is the opposite that has cost Julien his job. Although Carey Price has looked rejuvenated at times this season, the simple fact is that he’s not stopping the puck enough for the Canadiens to contend each night. Price has just an .893 save percentage on the season and though some of that can be attributed to the play in front of him, his numbers have been trending down for several seasons now—not to mention Jake Allen’s .932 behind the same team. If Ducharme is to turn the Canadiens around this season (or in any of the next five), that performance has to improve.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Injury Notes: Blues, Armia, Necas, Kase

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The St. Louis Blues’ Tyler Bozak, who has been sidelined since January 26th, has finally been retroactively placed on the injured reserve per a team release. Ironically, the Blues waited so long to make the the move that Bozak is already eligible to be activated from IR. However, he is still considered day-to-day and there is not definitive timeline for his return. Bozak has been out with an undisclosed upper-body injury since taking a heavy hit from Vegas’ Mark Stone nearly two weeks ago. Defenseman Marco Scandella has additionally been ruled out for the time being with an upper-body injury, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Scandella was a late scratch for the Blues’ game on Thursday, believed to have been the result of this same nagging injury. Thomas adds that Zach Sanford is also out for the Blues with, of all things in the age of COVID, the flu. Sanford is off to a slow start this season despite playing on the team’s top line recently, but perhaps taking some time to get back to full strength will put him back on track.

  • Sanford is not alone in his struggles with the flu. While the virus is certainly the lesser of two evils this season, it is still hampering a return to action for the Montreal Canadiens’ Joel Armia as well. Armia, who was initially sidelined by a concussion, is doing better in that regard, head coach Claude Julien tells TSN’s John Lu. However, he has been unable to skate with the team due to flu symptoms. The team hopes to have Armia back at practice on Monday at the earliest.
  • Young Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas has also entered the concussion protocol after suffering an injury on Thursday, reports Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. However, head coach Rod Brind’Amour is not worried that he will miss a considerable amount of time. Specifically, he tells Alexander that Necas is “going to be out for a little while but I don’t think it’s going to be very long.” His injury is only being termed as an “upper-body” ailment.
  • The Boston Bruins are hoping to have Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk back before their next game on Wednesday, but it seems Ondrej Kase is still a ways behind in his recovery from a concussion. Head coach Bruce Cassidy tells The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa that Kase has been able to ride the exercise bike, but he has not yet resumed skating. Kase has been out since the Bruins’ second game of the season and is currently on injured reserve. A talented, but injury-prone young forward with a history of head trauma, Kase needs to return to the Bruins lineup and show some durability and consistency and establish chemistry with his team ahead of an off-season in which he will be a restricted free agent and the subject of a difficult Expansion Draft decision.

Update On Sam Bennett, Victor Mete

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Over the weekend Darren Ferris, the agent for both Sam Bennett and Victor Mete, voiced some displeasure through the media. First Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that Bennett hoped for a change of scenery, not using the term trade request but implying that the young forward would welcome a move. Then later that evening, several reports surfaced of Mete also wanting out, this time from the Montreal Canadiens where he had not played a single game this season.

Both players obviously want more opportunity, but both the Flames and Canadiens have since denied that formal trade requests were made. Today, Eric Francis of Sportsnet published a piece examining the situation in Calgary, reporting that though the organization does not question Friedman’s report, they were “blindsided” by it. They had not been given a trade request from Bennett or his agent and will not comment on the matter publicly. That’s not to say Bennett doesn’t want out, just that the two sides were not on the same page.

Meanwhile, in Montreal, GM Marc Bergevin quickly told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on Saturday that he wouldn’t be trading Mete, but it appears the agent’s gambit may have worked in part. The young defenseman will be in the lineup tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, skating on a pair with rookie Alexander Romanov as Brett Kulak draws out. This could have been Montreal’s plan all along—in fact, head coach Claude Julien tells Eric Engels of Sportsnet exactly that—but it certainly is coincidental that Mete would receive his first game of the season less than 48 hours after the agent went public with his displeasure.

At any rate, it appears as though Mete will get a chance to prove he belongs in the Montreal lineup. Bennett, who was already in the lineup but being deployed on the third or fourth line, is a story to keep an eye on. If he truly wants out, you can bet the situation will likely get worse before it gets better.

Claude Julien Recovering, Will Return As Montreal Head Coach

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Though the Montreal Canadiens weren’t able to make it past the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs, some good news has still come out today. Claude Julien, who was taken to hospital a few weeks ago with chest pains and underwent a procedure to stent his coronary artery, has recovered and indicated he would have returned to Toronto’s bubble had the team won game six. Julien confirmed that he will be back as head coach of the Canadiens next season.

It is good news for a legendary coach who is approaching 700 regular season wins in his career. Julien won the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011 and has an all-time record of 658-440-10-148 in the regular season. That’s good enough for 13th on the all-time wins list.

The Canadiens have work to do this offseason to get their roster ready for another playoff run, but it appears that head coach will not be one of the spots to fill. Julien is under contract through the 2021-22 season with Montreal.

Claude Julien Taken To Hospital

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Friday: Julien has been discharged from the hospital and is headed home to Montreal following the stenting of a coronary artery. The procedure was carried out at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and Julien is expected to make a full recovery.

Thursday: Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin told reporters today including Eric Engels of Sportsnet that head coach Claude Julien was taken to the hospital following last night’s game. Julien was experiencing chest pains, but is now stable. Bergevin clarified it is not COVID-19 related, though Julien will not return for the Canadiens series against the Philadelphia Flyers. Kirk Muller will take over head coaching duties for the time being.

In terms of a last-second replacement, it’s hard to get someone more qualified than Muller. Not only has he been an associate coach with the Canadiens for the last four seasons, he has NHL head coaching experience in the past and scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal with the organization in 1993 during a 1,349-game playing career.

The hockey world including everyone at PHR hopes for a speedy recovery.

Claude Julien Will Be Back As Montreal Head Coach

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Barring a late-season run, the Montreal Canadiens look destined to finish outside the playoff picture for the third year in a row. That playoff drought coincides with Claude Julien’s current tenure as head coach, at least in terms of full seasons under the veteran bench boss—he went 16-7-1 down the stretch after Michel Therrien was fired in 2017 to get the Canadiens in, but lost in the first round to the New York Rangers.

Despite the fact that the Canadiens have taken a drastic step back from their 96-point season a year ago and are currently sitting with their fourth-worst winning percentage since 2003, changes don’t appear to be coming. In an interview with RDS today, general manager Marc Bergevin explained that Julien will still be the team’s coach next season.

The veteran coach is in his second stint behind the bench of the Canadiens, but now has just a .529 winning percentage in those games. During that time his club has played in just 17 playoff contests, winning just a single round—back in 2004.

Missing the playoffs for three straight seasons quite often gets a coach fired, but questions about the Canadiens don’t end at Julien. Tomas Tatar has been the team’s most consistent offensive player this season but is under contract for just one more year. Shea Weber’s health was a concern once again, and top prospects like Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling didn’t have the development years many expected. There is obviously plenty of hope for the future—especially when you look at the way Nick Suzuki has transitioned to the NHL—but there will be a lot of pressure this offseason for the group to see appreciable improvements.

Even if Julien and Bergevin come back to start the 2020-21 season, it doesn’t mean their seats won’t be incredibly hot.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

League Notes: Rescheduling, Julien, Kane

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After the game between the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday was postponed following Jay Bouwmeester’s cardiac event on the bench, it was clear that the Blues’ schedule would be in for a shake-up in order to make up the game. With limited time left in the season – adding a 23rd game to the Blues’ schedule over the remaining 48 games of the regular season –  was not going to be easy, especially when the team needed to return to Southern California despite not having any more road games scheduled against the Pacific Division. The NHL did their best to find the best time to play the game and the Blues have announced the re-worked schedule. The team will now resume their game with the Ducks on Wednesday, March 11th. Their home game against the Florida Panther that had been scheduled for March 10th has now been moved up a day to March 9th as well. St. Louis will now wrap up a road trip through New York, New Jersey, and Chicago on March 8th, return home on the 9th, fly to Anaheim for the 11th, and then head back home to face the Sharks on the 13th. It will be a busy week for sure, but likely preferable to making the game up with an extra day after the end of the regular season, as the Panthers and Bruins did two years ago. As for the postponed game itself, the league has decided to keep the points on the board but re-start with a fresh 60 minutes rather than account for the first nine minutes of play from the previous game. As such, the Blues and Ducks will begin the game at 1-1, but there will be no other changes from a typical regular season game.

  • Montreal Canadiens head coach Claude Julien has been fined $10,000 for remarks he made about the officiating in the team’s game on Saturday, the league announced. The game in question, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars, featured a number of missed penalties suffered by the Canadiens. In fact, the team did not have a single power play in the game. A frustrated Julien listed many of the missed calls in his postgame availability and called the officiating “embarrassing”. Perhaps the most incriminating line was Julien’s implication that the calls were skewed in Dallas’ favor, as he stated that Montreal “had to beat two teams.” While it fair to criticize officiating and to wish that there was more accountability for a poor job by the referees, the league is never going to tolerate such public comments, especially by a head coach. Julien had to have known that a fine was coming, so this should not come as much of a shock, fair or not.
  • San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane is also unhappy with the league’s officials, both on the ice and within the Department of Player Safety. Kane was suspended three games for an elbow to the head of Winnipeg defenseman Neal Pionk on Friday. Kane spoke out on the suspension and his gripe was not with his individual penalty, but with the inconsistency of the call. “There have been countless incidents of the same nature through this season and past seasons that have gone unsuspended or (un)fined,” Kane said. “No one person can tell you what is and isn’t a suspension in today’s game, it’s a complete guess. There is a major lack of consistency with NHL Department of Player Safety… You can’t continue to give some players a pass and throw the book at others.” The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell concurs with Kane’s statement, pointing out a very recent example. Just last week, Arizona Coyotes forward Lawson Crouse hit Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in the head with an elbow and received only a roughing minor. Not only was the hit nearly identical to that of Kane on Pionk, but it was also very similar to another hit in the same game, a check by the Bruins’ Jeremy Lauzon on the Coyotes’ Derek Stepan that earned Lauzon a two-game suspension. The inconsistency of the Department of Player Safety, as well as on-ice officials, is well-documented, but this is the first time that any player has spoken out so publicly about it. Perhaps Kane’s call to action will do more than just earn him an additional fine. He is advocating for a third party to review all questionable hits and penalties rather than the NHL, which could become a bargaining plea for the players in the next CBA if the league does not improve in this area.

Surgery Planned For Jonathan Drouin, Paul Byron

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Tuesday: The Canadiens have issued an update on both players. Drouin will be out a minimum of eight weeks, while Byron is expected to miss just four.

Monday: The Montreal Canadiens are about to lose two big parts of their forward group, as head coach Claude Julien told reporters including Eric Engels of Sportsnet that both Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron need surgery. Drouin’s will be on his wrist and is set for later today, while Byron suffered a knee injury and will go under the knife tomorrow. Both players are expected to be out “weeks.”

Losing two of your best offensive weapons is never a good thing, but especially not in a season where the Canadiens look like legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference. The team is sitting at 11-5-4 through the first quarter of the season, just three points behind the Boston Bruins for Atlantic Division lead.

Drouin was also in the midst of his best season so far in Montreal, with 15 points through his first 19 games. Blessed with incredible puck skills and playmaking ability, there have always been questions about his consistency and commitment to taking the puck to the tougher areas. A lot of those questions had been answered this year and his even-strength production had improved as a result.

Byron meanwhile hasn’t had the kind of offensive success he is used to, but is still one of the team’s most important two-way forwards. After scoring 51 even-strength goals over the last three seasons he has just one on the season.

Poll: Which Head Coach Has The Hottest Seat Entering 2019-20?

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Every game has a winner and a loser and not every team can meet or exceed expectations each year. Even entering a new season in which every team has a clean slate, it’s not incorrect to state that some NHL teams will struggle in 2019-20. And when that happens, the head coach is usually the first one to go. There are 31 head coaches in the league and one of them will inevitably be the first one fired this season. Who has the best chance of earning that unfortunate title?

Several names can likely be ruled out immediately – although anything can happen. Anaheim’s Dallas Eakins, Buffalo’s Ralph Krueger, Edmonton’s Dave Tippett, Florida’s Joel Quenneville, L.A.’s Todd McClellan, Ottawa’s D.J. Smith, and Philadelphia’s Alain Vigneault are all beginning their first season with a new team. In most cases, that affords them at least one year of job security before their seat can start warming up. However, in the event of a massive collapse or poor locker room dynamics, it’s not unheard of in hockey for a coach to be one and done.

It was a strong season for rookie head coaches last year though. Calgary’s Bill Peters, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour, Chicago’s Jeremy Colliton, Dallas’ Jim Montgomery, Washington’s Todd Reirden, and of course, reigning Jack Adams Award-winner Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders all excelled in their first year on the job. It’s hard to imagine any of the group having a hot seat, barring a major disappointment against expectations. The New York Rangers’ David Quinn had a much tougher task for a team that internally had an eye on moving assets and developing young players, but the former top college coach will likely be given another year to work with a revamped lineup.

Other names whose seats are probably very cold: Stanley Cup combatants Craig Berube of the St. Louis Blues and Bruce Cassidy of the Boston Bruins. Both exceeded expectations last year and were rewarded with multi-year extensions in the off-season. Gerard Gallant, whose Golden Knights made a magical run to the Cup Final two years ago in their inaugural season, is likely safe as well.

Who does that leave as a candidate for the hottest of seats? Despite a record-breaking regular season, all eyes will be on Jon Cooper and the Lightning as they look to bounce back from a shocking first-round sweep. Cooper is the NHL’s longest-tenured head coach, but he could lose that mantle if Tampa Bay isn’t a top-ten team all season and at least an Eastern Conference finalist. Similarly, Toronto and Mike Babcock had a strong regular season, but again could not fight their way past Boston in the first round. Babcock may to avoid any regular season struggles to even get back to a likely postseason re-match with the Bruins, as many feel his seat has warmed considerably. John Tortorella got his franchise their first ever playoff series win last year, but the Blue Jackets watched a ton of talent walk away this summer and Tortorella faces the tough task of getting the team back to the postseason. Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice, the second-longest tenured coach behind Cooper, faces the same difficulty of leading a team whose Stanley Cup hopes have been shaken this summer. Jared Bednar’s Avalanche were a surprise in the playoffs as well, but moved in the opposite direction this off-season and are a popular dark horse pick to win it all this year. High expectations demand results and Bednar’s job could hang in the balance if Colorado cannot take a step forward this year. The Devils’ John Hynes is certainly under a lot of pressure as well, as New Jersey missed the playoffs – by a wide margin – last year and responded with arguably the most impressive off-season in the league. Many will expect the Devils not only to make the playoffs, but to be competitive. Other coaches whose teams need to take a step forward via playoff success are Nashville’s Peter Laviolette, San Jose’s Peter Deboer, and perhaps even Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan. Coaches whose jobs could depend on making the playoffs include Arizona’s Rick Tocchet, Minnesota’s Bruce Boudreau, and Montreal’s Claude Julien.

The two outliers of the group: the Red Wings’ Jeff Blashill and the Canucks’ Travis Green. Neither team is expected to be a legitimate playoff contender, but at the same time both men need to show a marked improvement in their teams. Blashill has been in Detroit for four years but has little to show for it. Green enters his third season in Vancouver having fallen short of ownership and management’s lofty expectations in the previous two. It’s hard to set benchmarks for what would either save or end both coaches’ jobs.

All 31 coaches have a seat to start the year. Whose is hottest and in the most danger of being lost before the others?

Mobile users, click here to vote.

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