In the very short time that Claude Julien went between being fired by the Boston Bruins and hired by the Montreal Canadiens, he said he wasn’t “sitting at home hoping that [the Bruins] would lose.”
That doesn’t mean Julien is scared off by the unavoidable truth: the Bruins and Canadiens boast a historic rivalry, and to some, this can be chalked up to the latest round between the two franchises.
(Habs GM Marc Bergevin explained some of that away, but still.)
It sounds like Julien is willing to stir the pot a bit, as CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty points out.
” ... I’d say every guy in there was a good person. I never had issues with any of them. So you sit here and you want them to succeed,” Julien said. “Having said that, I’m with another team now and I need to succeed with that team. There’s obviously a rivalry that exists between those two organizations, and I intend to keep that rivalry going. But on the ice, not off the ice. I have too much respect for those [Bruins] players.”
(Anyone else have a little Jerry Seinfeld - Larry David routine pop in their head with Julien using “Having said that?” No? OK, moving on ...)
Considering Julien’s comments, it’s a real bummer that the teams lack regular season contests against each other. There’s a solid chance they could meet in the playoffs, but a few dominoes need to fall in the right way for that to happen.
Still, this doesn’t seem like it’s intended to be a quick-fix hire, so Julien vs. the Bruins might end up being like one of those serial dramas ending a season with a “To be continued” cliffhanger.
For a detailed look at how Julien expects to make changes in Montreal, check out this great post.
