BOSTON – While Cam Neely didn’t completely absolve Claude Julien of responsibility for the Bruins collapsing down the stretch in each of the last two seasons, the Bruins President also gave the longtime B’s head coach an endorsement Wednesday morning. Neely and GM Don Sweeney both indicated it was the GM’s choice to retain Julien after missing the playoffs for a second straight season, and instead effectively pinned the blame for defensive shortcomings on B’s assistant coach Doug Houda.
Neely took it one step further at the end of the joint press conference with Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and CEO Charlie Jacobs, and said he doesn’t believe that Julien has “lost the Bruins dressing room” or started to get tuned out by the players.
“I thought [Julien] did a great job coaching this year. It was a big transition year for him, different player personnel than he’s accustomed to. He tried to integrate a lot of younger players, and I think he did a good job with the roster,” said Neely, who just a month ago handed Julien a Black and Gold commemorative watch as the winningest head coach in the nearly 100-year history of the Bruins. “There are areas where we can all still evolve, and I think Claude is looking at that. I think he did a great job with some of the circumstances we had throughout the year. So I really . . . when Don said he wanted to keep Claude I had no problem with that at all.
“There’s an element [of responsibility] on everybody really. I mean it’s not just the coach, it’s not just the players, it’s everybody that’s trying to put this team together to accomplish what we’re trying to accomplish. One of the things I can tell you that I’ve learned recently is that our coach has not lost the room. That’s one of the first questions you’ve asked, especially of someone that’s been around as long as Claude and some of the players have been around as long as Claude. That has not happened, and if it did we’d have different discussions.”
While Julien may not have lost the collective ears of Boston’s best players, the struggles in big games and the complete collapse down the stretch two years in a row make one wonder what message the players are actually hearing.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the rest of Julien’s assistants after the firing of Houda, however. Bob Essensa will continue on as the goalie coach for the Black and Gold, and Neely indicated on Wednesday that Doug Jarvis and Joe Sacco are still possible to return for next season. But wholesale changes for Julien’s staff headed into next year could be a real signal that the patience level for the B’s bench boss won’t be quite as high again at signs of trouble and turmoil next season.