Kalman: A Julien In The Hand Worth Two On The NHL's Coaching Carousel
BOSTON (CBS) -- Regardless of Bruins coach Claude Julien's current contract situation, if extending him beyond the 2014-15 season was necessary to avoid any distractions or the threat of losing him, then general manager Peter Chiarelli's decision to reward Julien with a new multi-year contract Sunday was the right one.
Julien and Chiarelli both were mum on how much time Julien had left on the extension he signed in the summer of 2012, and neither would reveal how long the new deal lasts, but it doesn't really matter. Maybe there was an out clause or an option that had to be exercised, or perhaps that extension was just for two years. The details aren't important.
Julien has his detractors among the fan base and the media, but in the Bruins' front office and dressing room, there's no one else anyone would rather see coaching the Bruins. And that's all that matters.
Center Patrice Bergeron played for two other NHL coaches before Julien arrived in Boston and changed the player's career and the franchise's trajectory after two playoff-less seasons under Mike Sullivan and Dave Lewis.
"I think he's had a big role, him and Peter, in rebuilding the team and turning the franchise around," Bergeron said after practice at TD Garden on Monday. "But also I think our team identity and mentality here needed some changes and I thought he was there to make sure we had a lot more pride in wearing the spoked 'B' and playing a lot harder and working harder, and by doing that we got the success that we wanted and we achieved the goal that we wanted in 2011. And we definitely want more of that."
When you already have one of the best coaches in the NHL in your clutches, it's silly to risk losing him. Before you get all in a huff about using that designation for Julien, you have to try to argue with the numbers. Since Julien took over coaching a team that hadn't been to the playoffs in four years and led a team that had Glen Metropolit as its No. 2 center by the end of the season to the playoffs, the Bruins have won more than 317 games, reached the playoffs every season, won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and won the Eastern Conference in 2013.
These are the glory years of the Bruins. And although the salary cap ceiling, age and some unforeseen circumstances might make it difficult for the Bruins to sustain their level of excellence, it's difficult to look at the unemployed line and find one person that'd be better to guide the Bruins during the upcoming seasons than Julien.
"I mean he's done a good job throughout the years and he's shown an ability to go with the flow," Chiarelli said. "And he's got solid foundations and principles and I would anticipate that that would continue. That's why we would want him to be here going forward."
One doesn't need to look outside the Atlantic Division to see what can happen when it becomes public that one of the best coaches in the league might fly the coop. Mike Babcock's contract status with the Detroit Red Wings has become as big a story as forward Pavel Datsyuk's health, if it hasn't hit the top of the charts. The Red Wings are off to a respectable start. But Babcock is in the last year of his contract and that's sure to cause some rancor as this season winds down, in particular when the Red Wings hit the eventual slump every team hits over the course of 82 games. In fact, Babcock's status is causing controversy around the league, as other teams suddenly have their own coaches walking on egg shells (Toronto and Randy Carlyle first and foremost among them) because they know Babcock could easily be replacing them come summer 2015.
It's best to stay out of the coaching carousel if you can help it. Edmonton thought it found the next genius when it hired Dallas Eakins, but it has found out that turning around a franchise isn't as simple hiring the next would-be coaching prodigy. The Washington Capitals are already enduring growing pains under the estimable Barry Trotz. You never know what college, junior of AHL coach is really the next great one. You never know if a veteran coach who succeeded elsewhere, like Trotz, can duplicate his performance elsewhere. Mike Keenan didn't get the job done when he replaced Pat Burns for little reason than the Bruins wanted to change coaches.
Julien is the coach the Bruins know, the core players who are signed here through the end of the decade are loyal to and who time and again has proven he can adapt his style to the personnel he has. He can get a team with Metropolit in Bergeron's position into the playoffs. He can win the Stanley Cup Final without Nathan Horton. He can make sure an injury to Zdeno Chara doesn't sink the Bruins into the lottery.
Most important, Julien isn't sitting high on the hog lighting a cigar just because he got another extension. He's determined to prove the Bruins are right about his status as one of the best in the business.
"I think the thing that I feel the most that's important right now is that no matter what we've accomplished, and I don't want to go through all the things that I've accomplished, like I'm still really very hungry to again win another Stanley Cup," Julien said. "You want to succeed and when you start getting tired of doing that is when I think you become weaker as a coach. And like I really feel strongly about this organization's direction it wants to go in and I feel strongly about my intentions of wanting to win. I was disappointed as anybody else last year because I really felt we had the team to go all the way. And so you come back and you're hungry. And as long as I have that and I have that fire, what they call a fire in the belly, I'm extremely happy here being in this organization as long as they want me."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
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