BOSTON – If you were a Bruins fan wondering why it took so long to change the head coach based on the results by February of this season, then you got your answer at the season-ending press conference on Tuesday with Bruins ownership and team president Cam Neely.
Bruins principal owner Jeremy Jacobs stressed it was the final decision of Neely, Don Sweeney and the hockey ops group to replace Claude Julien with Bruce Cassidy Feb. 7.
It was a move that obviously worked with the B’s going 18-8-1 down the stretch under the new coach to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. From a business perspective, it gave the Black and Gold three home playoff games at TD Garden before they were ultimately eliminated.
So, Jacobs admitted the coaching change, pivotal to the relative success of this season’s group, was probably “overdue” based on the loyalty he and other members of Bruins upper management felt for a Stanley Cup-winning coach in Julien.
“The decision was very much made here in Boston, the leadership here. My own impression is that it was overdue – maybe a little late. Maybe I precipitated part of that and misplaced loyalty in that sense,” said Jacobs, who clearly took a liking to Julien in his 10-year run as coach. “But it was the right move. Coaches have a definite life it seems to be. He had been a long-serving coach. He spent a good bit of his career with us, and hopefully he does well in Montreal.
“But once Bruce took over, I think he either had the first- or second-best record of any team in the National Hockey League for that period of time. It was a very prudent move and it was very prudent [at that time]. Under those circumstances, I would say that Don did a terrific job in selecting him and motivating him, and motivating the team.”
Clearly, the Bruins could have done it a little sooner this past season and made things a little easier on themselves down the stretch. A shootout loss in Detroit in January would have been an opportune moment and making a coaching change at the NHL All-Star break also would have been a natural time to make a move.
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Some would even make the argument that Julien should have been fired after the Bruins faltered, collapsed and were blown out by the Ottawa Senators in last season’s pathetic regular-season finale.
That didn’t happen, however, and the longtime Bruins owner and Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors clarified his point even more in some comments to reporters following the main press conference.
It certainly felt as if Jacobs was chiding himself a bit for not being fully sold on the coaching change a little earlier in the process, and that perhaps loyalty to the winningest coach in B’s franchise history blinded them to the need for a fresh voice.
“When I say overdue, I think I had a false sense of loyalty there. I think we gave Claude a lot of leeway. It didn’t produce [at the very end], so it was time to move on,” said Jacobs. “It was discussed, but when it was decided, it was decided. It’s always [difficult]. I liked the guy and I thought he did a great job for us. We won a Cup with him, so you have a reason to be [fond of him] just from a practical business sense.”
It wasn’t much of a secret Neely, on the other hand, was okay with making a coaching change earlier in the process. It sounded as if, in the final gauge of things, the players had grown weary of the message and Julien’s voice wasn’t getting through like it did earlier in his highly successful 10-year stint with the Black and Gold.
“I felt that it was going to be better [after firing Julien]. Did I expect the run we went on? No. I don’t think anybody did, but the environment and the way we were practicing changed right from the very next day,” said Neely. “Claude’s a fantastic coach and he’s had a lot of success. But you’re talking 10 years and you’re talking 82 plus games a year with the same voice. Regardless of how good a coach is at some point [you need a change].
“It’s not 16 games a year. It’s 82 games a year and you’re on the ice almost on a daily basis. It’s not so much about his ability as a coach. From the pulse of things and from what Donnie was telling me, it was just time. Fortunately, things worked out and Bruce was a good call.”
The results speak for themselves as to how prudent a move it was replacing the conservative Julien with Cassidy, who preached offensive aggression and playmaking creativity. The bottom line is the Bruins did it soon enough to qualify for the postseason and break the spell that had bedeviled the Black and Gold the past couple of seasons.