The Bruins were just looking to make a change. They didn’t realize it would revive their rival’s season.
Less than four years after leading Boston to its second Stanley Cup finals in three seasons — winning in 2011 — the Bruins fired coach Claude Julien on Feb. 7, two months before he was to complete his 10th season.
One week later, Julien was hired by the Canadiens to replace Michel Therrien.
When Julien arrived for his second stint with Montreal — where he landed his first head coaching job in 2002, lasting three years — the Canadiens had lost 10 of their previous 14 games, and after missing the playoffs the previous season, were desperate for a midseason spark.
Thanks to their rival, one of the sport’s best coaches was available. Thanks to the Bruins, the Canadiens turned into one of the league’s top teams again.
“I just do my job and do it the same way every day,” Julien said before Game 4 of Montreal’s first-round playoff series Tuesday against the Rangers. “I like to be positive, but I also like to be honest. I’m not gonna sugarcoat anything. If there’s something that needs to be fixed, we fix it. At the end of the day, you get your energy from the positive feedback you get, and you try and find something positive even in the tough moments.”
There have been few tough moments since Julien took over, leading Montreal to the Atlantic Division title after going 15-5-1 in his first 21 games.
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With minimal time to learn his players and turn the season around, Julien could only change so much, but the coach’s impact on the penalty kill has been among the biggest reasons the Canadiens entered the postseason as one of the league’s hottest teams, having turned one of the league’s worst groups into the 14th-ranked unit by the end of the season.
Through the first three playoff games against the Rangers, Montreal had successfully killed all 10 power plays it faced.
“This penalty kill wasn’t bad, and sometimes it just takes a little tweak here and there to make those things happen,” Julien said. “For me, it’s just making sure you don’t run out of position when you’re not supposed to, and it’s about being aggressive when it’s the right time to do it.
“I just came in here and suggested a couple of small things that didn’t really disrupt what we were doing.”
Julien’s player-friendly approach has allowed him to quickly earn the trust of the team, now confidently following a man who was leading their rival just two months ago.
“When you have a guy like that, it spreads throughout the dressing room,” center Steve Ott said. “That’s his demeanor, a confident, calm speaker that really gets the most out of his guys. … In the short time that he’s been here, he’s been a very strong teacher, but also mindset-wise, he gets us prepared very well.”