Former Boston Bruins Coach Claude Julien Hired By Montreal Canadiens

Returning to the site of his NHL coaching debut, former Boston Bruins head coach is heading back to Montreal to coach the rival Canadiens.

Today the Montreal Canadiens announced that Michel Therrien has been relieved of his duties. Former Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien has been hired as his replacement.

"“Claude Julien is an experienced and well respected coach with a good knowledge of the Montreal market. Claude has been very successful as an NHL coach and he won the Stanley Cup. Today we hired the best available coach, and one of the league’s best. I am convinced that he has the capabilities to get our team back on the winning track,” said Canadiens general manager, Marc Bergevin."

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From January 2003 to January 2006, Julien was the Canadiens head coach. He went 72-62-10-15 during his first tenure in Montreal. In all, Claude Julien has coached 997 NHL games with Montreal. New Jersey and Boston. Julien coached Boston from 2007 until just a week ago. He led Boston to a Stanley Cup Championship in 2011, and reached the Finals again in 2013. He also led the Bruins to the President’s Trophy in 2014 after racking up 117 points in th

e standings. In 2009, Julien was the Jack Adams Trophy recipient as the NHL’s head coach of the year. On March 7, 2016 he reached yet another milestone when he became the winningest coach in Boston Bruins history with 388 wins.

Montreal is currently in 1st place in the Atlantic Division with 31-19-8 record, but they were blanked by the Bruins 4-0 this past Sunday. Julien will look to take Montreal deep into the playoffs, while Bruce Cassidy seems to have turned the Bruins around. Boston is 6 points behind the Canadiens in the Atlantic, and will likely have a chance to win the division.

Next: B's Eye Landeskog

The coaching changes could be just what each team needed to make a playoff push and run.

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