Claude Julien

At 63 years old, Claude Julien has this physical status:

Claude Julien (born April 23, 1960) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player.

He is currently the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Prior to his firing by the Boston Bruins in 2017, he was the longest tenured head coach in the NHL.

He had previously served as head coach of the New Jersey Devils in the NHL, as well as in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Hamilton Bulldogs.

In 2011 he coached the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals, against the Vancouver Canucks, winning in 7 games, guiding Boston to their 6th franchise Stanley Cup title.

In 2013, he brought Boston to another Stanley Cup Finals, however they lost the series to the Chicago Blackhawks in 6 games. Julien was also an assistant coach for Canadian national team at the 2014 Winter Olympics, where he led the team to a gold medal victory.

Personal life

Julien and his wife Karen have one daughter. The family resides in Ottawa, Ontario. They previously resided in Red Bank, New Jersey and Lexington, Massachusetts. Julien was raised in the Orléans suburb of Ottawa. He is bilingual, speaking both French and English fluently.

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Playing career

Julien competed in the 1972 and 1973 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a junior ice hockey team from Gloucester, Ontario.

Julien was an NHL defenseman for the Quebec Nordiques in the 1984-1985 and 1985–86 seasons.

Julien spent six years in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Oshawa Generals and Windsor Spitfires before starting to play in the NHL. In addition,, he has played for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles (CHL) for the Kansas City Blades and the Milwaukee Admirals; and in the AHL for the Manchester City Buccaneers, Manchester Citadels, and Moncton Hawks.

Coaching career

Julien began his teaching career with the Hull Olympiques in Quebec, Québec (QMJHL), with whom he won the Memorial Cup in 1997. He served as head coach for the Hamilton Bulldogs, the NHL's top minor league affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, from 2000 to 2003.

Julien won a bronze medal as the head coach of Canada's junior team in 2000. He also worked as an assistant coach to Marc Habscheid at the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.

Julien became the Montreal Canadiens' head coach on January 17, 2003. In 2003-2004, his first full season as an NHL head coach, he led Montreal to a 93-point victory (41–30–4 record) and the second round of the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs. On January 14, 2006, he was finally dismissed and replaced by GM Bob Gainey. Julien played a record of 72-62–10-15 during his three seasons with the Canadiens.

Julien was later named as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils on June 13, 2006, marking the 15th head coach in the Devils' history. He won his first game as the Devils head coach on October 6, 2006, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes, the defending Stanley Cup champions. Julien defeated the Canadiens 2–1 in Montréal on November 4, the Devils' first return to Montreal. Lou Lamoriello, the Devils' general manager, unexpectedly suspended Julien with three games to go in the season on April 2, 2007. Despite the Devils' 47-24-8 record, which at the time was leading the Atlantic Division and tied for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. They were also on their way to set a franchise record for wins in a season. Despite the team's stellar history, Lamoriello said he did not believe Julien was ready for the 2007 playoffs. Lamoriello has appointed himself interim head coach for the remainder of the season, the second straight season in which Lamoriello left the front office to coach the Devils at the end of the season. Despite the change, the Devils continued to fail in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Ottawa Senators.

Julien had been named as the 28th head coach of the Boston Bruins on June 22, 2007, according to various sports websites. He took the team back to the playoffs in his first season as Boston coach. Throughout the 2007–08 season, his team suffered with consistency over the course of the season, but in large part due to the numerous injuries that plagued the Bruins during the 2007–08 season. Forward Patrice Bergeron and goaltender Manny Fernandez, among other items, missed almost the entire season. In the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Bruins were defeated by his former team, Montreal, who were coached by Guy Carbonneau, Julien's permanent replacement as head coach, in seven games.

Julien managed his 200th win as an NHL head coach on February 17, 2009, beating the Carolina Hurricanes 5–1. At the end of the 2008–09 season, he was named coach of the year on June 18, 2009.

The Bruins were 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 in the 2010 playoffs (the other two teams were the 1942 Detroit Red Wings and the 1975 Pittsburgh Penguins). In game seven, Boston held a 3–0 lead, but the Flyers tied and eventually won the game, 4–3. David Krej (broken wrist), Marco Sturm (torn ACL), Marc Savard (concussion), Mark Savard (concussion), as well as defenceman Dennis Seidenberg (wrist) and an undisclosed injury to former Vezina-winning goaltender Tim Thomas (hip) were among the causes for the loss.

Julien's Bruins advanced to the third seed in the playoffs and a first round matchup against the Montreal Canadiens in 2010. Julien made some lineup changes and helped his team win the series in seven games after losing the first two games at home. The Bruins had a chance to redeem themselves from the previous year in a long-awaited match against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Flyers were swept out of the playoffs in four games after winning Game 1, 7–3. The Bruins faced the Tampa Bay Lightning for their first chance at a Stanley Cup since 1990. In Game 7, the Bruins were victorious in their second seven-game playoff series, with victories of 6–5, 2–1 and a penalty-less 1–0 win.

The team's win in the Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks, the team's number one seed, who had the best offence, defense, goaltending, power play, and special teams in the NHL. With just 18.5 seconds remaining in the third period of the game, the Canucks scored their first goal of the game, beating the series opener 11-0. The Bruins, who were trying to recover from a break with Vancouver in Game 2, skated to a 2-2 draw before Boston captain Zdeno Chára's costly mistake allowed the Canucks to score the game-winning goal in just 11 seconds of overtime, giving the Canucks a 2–0 series lead. After a rough first period in which the Bruins lost Nathan Horton to an unlawful, concussive blow by Vancouver defenceman Aaron Rome, Boston exploded for four goals in the second period and four more in the third to win by 8–1 bye. The Bruins won another big win with another big win, this time beating the Canucks 4–0, while chasing goaltender Roberto Luongo, who had lost 12 goals in five periods during the two games in Boston. The Bruins defeated the Bruins 4–0 in Game 7 in Vancouver on June 15, 2011.

Julien's career playoff record in Game 7s was 1–3, with three of them coming from his time as Boston coach against Montreal in 2008, Carolina in 2009, and Philadelphia in 2010. His one Game 7 victory came in 2004, over Boston, ironically. With victories over Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver in 2011, he also raised his record to 4–3. Julien (now 33 wins) defeated Don Cherry (331 wins) for the most playoff victories by a Boston Bruins coach in the 2011 playoffs.

Julien reached several personal coaching milestones during the 2011–12 regular season. In a 6–0 loss to the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Flyers on December 17, 2011, he won his 200th regular season victory as Boston's coach. The victory brought Bruin's 41-day campaign from the absolute bottom of the Eastern Conference to a tie for first place. Julien (and his Bruin bench workers) led Team Chara to a 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson in the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa on January 29, 2012. It was his second appearance and second victory as an All-Star Game coach, having also participated in the 2009 game. He coached his 400th game behind the Bruin bench on March 19, 2012, winning 8–0 over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The victory brought a perfect 6–0 sweep of the Maple Leafs' season-long season series.

Julien's defending Cup champion Bruins would not be as memorable in the first round to the Washington Capitals and their upstart rookie goaltender Braden Holtby in seven games, but the 2012 playoffs will not be as memorable for the Bruins' upstart rookie goaltender Braden Holtby. With all seven games (including four overtime games) being one-goal decisions, the series was the most closely fought series in NHL history. Julien's playoff Game 7 record fell to 4–4 after the loss. Despite Boston's early departure from the playoffs, the Bruins have signed Julien to a new, multi-year contract extension.

Julien led his team to their second Stanley Cup Finals appearance in three years during the lockout period in 2012. They defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games, the first time in NHL playoff history in which a team trailing by three goals in the third period advanced to victory Game 7 in the first round. In five games, the Bruins defeated the New York Rangers. The Bruins, the regular season Conference champions, thrashed the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals, which featured two shutouts of the traditionally high-scoring Penguins. The Bruins lost in the Cup Finals to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games after struggling to hold third period leads in Game 1 and Game 6 losses.

Julien's team won the President' Trophy for the first regular season record in the NHL during the 2013-14 regular season, the first under the League's new conference and division realignment.

For the first time since Julien took over as the Bruins' head coach in the 2014-15 regular season, the Bruins failed to make the playoffs for the first time since Julien took over the position as Bruins head coach. Julien and his staff will continue to play in the upcoming 2015–16 NHL regular season on June 5, 2015, Don Sweeney, the Bruins' new general manager, announced on June 5, 2015. Julien was shocked to learn that he had coached his 500th NHL game during his six-game road trip with the Bruins as part of the team's 2015–16 season. Julien's career as a Bruins coach led the Bruins to 487 wins against the Chicago Blackhawks, the highest win total for the Bruins in 1924, up from four separate periods of coaching beginning in 1939. Julien's win record with the Bruins increased to 488 on March 7, just four days later, beating Art Ross' career total with the team.

Julien was relieved of his coaching duties on February 7, 2017, after leading the team to a 26–23–6 record. Julien ended his tenure in Boston with 419 regular-season victories, a record set by no other Bruin head coach.

After Michel Therrien was dismissed of his head coaching duties, Julien was named the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on February 14, 2017. Julien replaced Therrien for the second time in Canadiens franchise history, and it's the first time during the 2002–03 regular season.

Julien won his 100th game as the Canadiens' coach on November 30, 2017, beating the Detroit Red Wings 6–3.

Julien suffered chest pains and was admitted to the hospital on August 12, 2020, following a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference First Round. Marc Bergevin, the Canadiens' general manager, said that his chest pains had nothing to do with COVID-19. Kirk Muller, the Canadiens' associate head coach, took over the role of head coach for the remainder of the first round of playoffs. Julien had a stent implanted in one of his coronary arteries on August 14, according to the Canadiens. Bergevin had previously revealed that he would return to Montreal to recover, and that the chances of him returning to the team before the first round were also slim.

Julien won his 200th game as head coach of the Canadiens on February 6, 2021, beating the Ottawa Senators 2–1.

The Canadiens fired Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller on February 24, 2021.

Julien served as an assistant coach for the Canadian national team in the 2014 Winter Olympics, where he helped lead the team to a gold medal win. He continued as assistant coach for the 2016 World Cup, where the team defeated the USA in the championship.

Julien was initially intended to be Team Canada's head coach for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Julien slipped on the ice and fractured his ribs at a training camp in Switzerland in January 2022. Jeremy Colliton coached the first game, while Julien recovered from the injury.

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