Claude Julien (ice hockey)

For other people named Claude Julien, see Claude Julien (journalist).

Claude Julien
Born	(1960-04-23) April 23, 1960 Blind River, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position	Defence
Shot	Right
Played for	Port Huron Flags (IHL) Salt Lake Golden Eagles (CHL) Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) Fredericton Express (AHL) Quebec Nordiques (NHL) Baltimore Skipjacks (AHL) Halifax Citadels (AHL) Kansas City Blades (IHL) Moncton Hawks (AHL)
Playing career	1980–1992

Claude Julien (born April 23, 1960) is Canadian professional ice hockey head coach of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as the head coach for the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils. In the American Hockey League (AHL), he coached the Hamilton Bulldogs. In 2011, he won the Stanley Cup championship as head coach of the Bruins.

Playing career

Julien was a NHL defenseman for the Quebec Nordiques in the 1984 and 1986 seasons.

Julien had previously played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Oshawa Generals and Windsor Spitfires. In the Central Hockey League he played for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. In the IHL, Julien played for the Kansas City Blades and the Milwaukee Admirals. In the AHL, he played for the Fredericton Express, Baltimore Skipjacks, Halifax Citadels and Moncton Hawks.

Coaching career

Julien began his professional coaching in the QMJHL for the Hull Olympiques, with whom he won the Memorial Cup in 1997. From 2000–2003 he served as head coach for the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs.

In 2000, Julien won a bronze medal as the head coach of Canada's national junior ice hockey team. He also served as an assistant coach to Marc Habscheid at the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

On January 17, 2003, Julien became head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. In 2004, his first full season as an NHL head coach, he led Montreal to a 93 point performance (41–30–7–4 record) and the second round of the playoffs. He was fired and replaced by GM Bob Gainey on January 14, 2006. Julien accumulated a win-loss-tie-OverTimeShootOutLoss record of 72–62–10–15 during his three seasons.

Julien was then announced as the head coach of the Devils on June 13, 2006. He was the 15th head coach in Devils history. On October 6, 2006, Julien won his first game as Devils head coach with a 4–0 win against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes. On November 4, 2006, Julien won in his first return to Montreal as the Devils defeated the Canadiens 2–1. On April 2, 2007, the New Jersey Devils abruptly terminated Julien, despite his coaching the Devils to a 47–24–8 record which at the time was leading the Atlantic Division and tied for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said that despite the team's stellar record, he didn't feel Julien had it ready for the playoffs. Lamoriello himself replaced Julien, the second straight season in which Lamoriello left the front office to coach the Devils at the end of the season. Lamoriello cited the team's lack of readiness to challenge for the Stanley Cup as his reasoning for firing Julien. The Devils went on to lose in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Ottawa Senators.

On June 22, 2007, it was confirmed by various sports websites that Julien had been named as the 28th head coach of the Boston Bruins. In his first season as Boston coach, he led the team back to the playoffs. His team struggled with consistency over the course of the season but this was in large part due to the many injuries that plagued the Bruins throughout the 2007–08 season. Most notably, forward Patrice Bergeron and goaltender Manny Fernandez missed almost the entire season. The Boston Bruins were defeated in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games.

On February 17, 2009, Julien coached his 200th winning NHL game, a 5–1 Bruins road game defeat of the Carolina Hurricanes. On June 18, 2009, Julien was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the NHL.

On May 14, 2010, following an upset win against the Buffalo Sabres in the quarterfinals, the Bruins became only the third NHL team to lose a best-of-seven-series after being up three-games-to-none when they were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers (the other two teams were the 1942 Detroit Red Wings and the 1975 Pittsburgh Penguins); Boston held a 3–0 lead in game 7 but the Flyers tied and eventually won the game, 4–3. Injuries to star Bruins forwards David Krejci (broken wrist), Marco Sturm (torn ACL), and Marc Savard (concussion) as well as midseason acquisition defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (wrist) and an undisclosed injury to former Vezina goaltender Tim Thomas (hip) that prevented his playing in the series and ultimately required surgery in the offseason, contributed to the defeat.

The 2010–2011 season saw Julien coach the Bruins to the 3rd-seed in the NHL Playoffs, and a first-round matchup versus the rival Montreal Canadiens. After dropping the first two games at home, Julien made some lineup adjustments, and helped his team come back to win the series in 7. In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Bruins got a chance to redeem themselves from the previous year in a much-anticipated series against the Philadelphia Flyers. After winning Game 1 7–3, they went on to sweep the Flyers out of the playoffs in 4 straight. In the Conference Finals, the Bruins faced off against the Tampa Bay Lightning for a chance to go to the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1990. The Bruins came out victorious in their second consecutive 7-game series, including wins of 6–5, 2–1 and a penalty-less 1–0 win in Game 7.

This set the stage for a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, against the number-1 seeded Vancouver Canucks, who possessed the best offense, defense, goaltending, powerplay, and special teams in the NHL, statistically speaking. After a hard-fought Game 1, the Canucks scored the first goal of the entire game with 18.5 seconds remaining in the 3rd period, taking the series opener. The Bruins, looking to rebound in Game 2, skated to a tie with Vancouver after regulation, when a costly mistake by captain Zdeno Chara after just 11 seconds of overtime allowed the Canucks to score the game-winning goal and a 2-0 series lead. Back in Boston, after a rough first period in which the Bruins lost Nathan Horton to an illegal, concussive hit by Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome, Boston exploded for 4 goals in the second period and 4 more in the third, to complete an 8–1 blowout victory. The Bruins followed up that big win with another decisive victory, this time romping 4-0 over the Canucks while chasing goalie Roberto Luongo who had surrendered 12 goals in 5 periods during the two games in Boston. On 15 June 2011, the Boston Bruins won their sixth all-time Stanley Cup championship, with a 4–0 victory in game 7 in Vancouver, BC.

Entering the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, Claude Julien’s career playoff record in game 7’s was 1-3. The 3 losses all came as Boston's coach (vs. Montréal in 2008, Carolina in 2009 and Philadelphia in 2010). His one game 7 win came in 2004 as Montréal's coach against Boston. With the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoff game 7 wins against Montréal, Tampa Bay and Vancouver, Julien improved to 4-3. Also in the 2011 playoffs, Julien (now with 33 wins) passed Don Cherry (31 wins) for the most playoff wins by a Boston Bruins coach.

During the 2011-12 regular season, Claude Julien reached a few personal coaching milestones. On 17 Dec 2011, he collected his 200th regular season win as Boston's coach in a 6-0 whitewash of the conference leading Flyers. The win completed a Bruin 41-day journey from the absolute bottom of the Eastern Conference to a tie at the top. On 29 Jan 2012, Julien (and his Bruin bench staff) coached Team Chara to a 12-9 win over Team Alfredsson in the 59th National Hockey League All-Star Game. It was his second appearance and second win as an All-Star Game coach, having also appeared in the 2009 game. On 19 March 2012, he coached his 400th game behind the Bruin bench, an 8-0 pummelling of Toronto. The win completed a perfect 6-0 sweep of the season series with the Maple Leafs. The 2012 post-season would however not be as memorable for Julien's defending Cup champion Bruins, as they fell in the first round to the Washington Capitals and their upstart rookie goalie Braden Holtby in 7 games. The series was the closest, most evenly fought series in NHL history, with all seven games (including 4 overtime games) being one-goal decisions. Julien's playoff game seven record falls to 4-4. Despite the early exit for the Bruins in the 2012 playoffs, on July 23, 2012 the Bruins signed Julien to a new contact as their coach for an undisclosed "multi-year" term.

Personal life

Julien and his wife Karen reside in Lexington, Massachusetts. He is bilingual, speaking both French and English.

Coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season							Post season
		G	W	L	T	OTL	Pts	Division Rank	Result
Montreal Canadiens	2002–03	36	12	16	3	5	(77)	4th in Northeast	Missed playoffs
	2003–04	82	41	30	7	4	93	4th in Northeast	Lost in second round (TB)
	2005–06	41	19	16	-	6	(93)	Fired
New Jersey Devils	2006–07	79	47	24	-	8	(107)	Fired
Boston Bruins	2007–08	82	41	29	-	12	94	3rd in Northeast	Lost in first round (MTL)
	2008–09	82	53	19	-	10	116	1st in Northeast	Lost in second round (CAR)
	2009–10	82	39	30	-	13	91	3rd in Northeast	Lost in second round (PHI)
	2010–11	82	46	25	-	11	103	1st in Northeast	Won Stanley Cup (VAN)
	2011–12	82	49	29	-	4	102	1st in Northeast	Lost in first round (WAS)
	2012–13	48	28	14	-	6	62	2nd in Northeast	2nd round matchup (NYR)
Total		648	347	218	10	73	-

See also

• List of NHL head coaches

External links

• Claude Julien's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database