Claude's Keeping His Job! Claude's Keeping His Job!
Is it a strange feeling to have to celebrate when the Bruins front office merely acts competently? You betcha, it is. But we take what we can get when it comes to black and gold celebrations these days.
Shockingly, Don Sweeney has announced that Claude will “absolutely” be keeping his job. In fact he said it without hesitation and with significantly more exclamation than he did even last year, which is interesting. Almost like he’s saying, “as long as everyone keeps blaming him for my shitty roster decisions, he can stay as long as he wants!”
After the Bruins collapse I said my piece on Claude, and said that I strongly recommend he’s kept on, so I’m feeling groovy over this one. If you blame Claude for the collapse then you just weren’t paying attention all year. At the end the players simply didn’t show up and execute (that is NOT on a coach, these are professionals and not mites), the team was injured, and they were playing a much better schedule down the stretch than they were in the middle of the season (the kind of schedule where you need to have actual talent rather than just coaching in order to win).
Claude Julien is an excellent coach and would have immediately found a new home, probably within our division in Ottawa. Kicking him out the door now would have been knee jerk and stupid. He’s the winningest coach in franchise history, from 2001 to today he’s won a Stanley Cup, been to another, and won a President’s Trophy. That’s just what he can do with an actual roster. Give him two lines and one defenseman, like he had this year, and he’ll drag your fucking shit team into playoff contention but eventually the law of averages will play out and they’ll lose to good teams down the stretch. They’ll lose to a couple of bad teams too.
At the end of the day, this was undoubtedly the right move. I’m sure some people will be upset that they didn’t fire one of the best coaches in hockey, those people are stupid. The “it’s time for a change!” crowd will be calling talk shows all day, I’m sure, and that’s when you should change the channel. Change for change’s sake doesn’t make sense. You’ve got a great coach who can possibly see you through to the light at the end of the tunnel, why would you make him pack his bags?
Now the noose tightens on Neely and Sweeney, though I think that’s who should rightfully be in the gallows. If you admit the coach wasn’t the problem, then the only people to blame are the players, who you chose, and you. I respect putting the blame on himself after one year, and he’s not totally wrong, but now you’ve got to go to work and give Julien something to work with. Can’t just take a shit at the potter’s wheel and tell him to make you a beautiful vase again.