Peter Chiarelli, Claude Julien Conducting 'Business As Usual' Amid Job Uncertainty
BOSTON (CBS) -- When Charlie Jacobs made his midseason declaration that missing the playoffs would be unacceptable, it was widely believed that general manager Peter Chiarelli and/or head coach Claude Julien would lose their jobs if the Bruins fell short of making the postseason.
Yet on Monday, Chiarelli and Julien met with the media, both still holding their job titles despite the Bruins' season ending without a playoff berth.
"It's business as usual," Chiarelli said, noting that he had begun conducting exit interviews with players earlier in the morning. "The job uncertainty, the questions surrounding us, it's part of the job. You have to deal with it and just move forward. But it hasn't impacted my interviews, my discussion, my meeting with Claude. It's business as usual."
As far as whether he's received word one way or another regarding his future, or when he expects to, Chiarelli said he didn't really know.
"I couldn't tell you. As I said, it's business as usual until we hear otherwise," Chiarelli said.
Prior to this season, the Bruins had made the playoffs for seven straight years -- a stretch that entails the entirety of Julien's tenure behind the bench. The Chiarelli-Julien duo had been responsible for the major franchise turnaround, yet in early January, Charlie Jacobs told the media that everyone in the organization was being evaluated.
"Incredible failure. If you think about what has been put in this team in terms of — let's discount all of the scouting, all of the drafting, all of the money spent on the player personnel — for us to be a team that's out of the playoffs is absolutely unacceptable," Jacobs declared on Jan. 6. "Everybody in the executive offices are fully aware how I feel and they feel the same way, which brings us to this evaluation process and it's fluid right now. I can't say at any moment we have a final decision other than to say that it's been an utter disappointment and a failure, complete failure."
On Monday, Julien was asked if he believes it would be unfair to have his job security put in jeopardy after just one bad season.
"I don't think it matters, actually. I think the bottom line is it's a tough business, and right now it's not my decision to make," Julien said. "It'll all depend on how it's being viewed from above me, and I'll deal with it from there.
"I'm like Peter. I've had exit interviews today with players, and my job continues just like any other year," Julien continued. "Unless I'm told otherwise, I gotta continue to do that. I've been here for eight years and I enjoy being here and I certainly look forward to staying here. But again, having said that, I also understand the nature of this business."