Sweeney: Julien Head Coach Of Bruins 'As Of Today'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins have a new GM, and they have a head coach.
For today, at least.
The Bruins introduced Don Sweeney as the franchise's eighth general manager on Wednesday, but he wouldn't fully commit to Claude Julien as the team's head coach.
"He's the coach of the Boston Bruins as of today, for sure," Sweeney said when asked about Julien's job security.
Sweeney admitted that he met with Julien earlier this month, as he was interviewing for the B's gig, and had another conversation with him on Wednesday morning.
"I spoke to Claude this morning as a person now in the general manager seat. I have some things I want to sit down and go through with Claude in a very orderly fashion, as to where I think things need to change and what direction we need to change as a group," he said.
"I've also acknowledged to Claude during this whole process that I think tremendously of him as a coach and as a person," Sweeney added. "So it's just about lining up philosophical approaches that I believe in, that he believes in, and how we move the group forward. Some of that will involve personnel decisions and staff member decisions and/or changes. That is yet to be determined."
In eight seasons on the Bruins bench, Julien has guided the team to a 351-192-79 record in the regular season. They made the playoffs in every season under Julien until last season, winning the Stanley Cup in 2011 and making it to the Cup Final again in 2013.
But Sweeney hinted at changes throughout his press conference, and his non-committal to Julien means the head coach's future remains unknown.
"There will be changes going forward," Sweeney said. "When we decide to make those, it will be in due time. But I will make the right decisions that are best for the organization. It might not be the easiest one, but I'll make the best one in conjunction with the great number of people I get to work with."
Julien signed a multi-year contract extension with Boston in November 2014.
