Julien status remains unresolved after Chiarelli dismissal

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BOSTON – While Peter Chiarelli learned his fate this week after Charlie Jacobs and Cam Neely finally decided to fire him on Tuesday, Bruins head coach Claude Julien is still up in the air amid the upheaval all around him.

Julien and his coaching staff, along with the B’s front office, “will remain in place at this time” after the dismissal of Chiarelli, but there wasn’t much of a permanent feel to that phrasing. Both Jacobs and Neely made it clear the new general manager would make the call on the second-winningest coach in Bruins history (351 wins and a .620 winning percentage), and Julien is in wait-and-see mode with a new three-year extension kicking in for next season.

“[The decision] hasn’t fully been made. We met with Claude this morning, Charlie and I, and we told him that we really believe that once we go through the exhaustive search to find the next general manager that we will leave it up to that GM to decide what he wants to do with our coaching staff,” said Neely. “Claude certainly understood that, and that’s where we left it. We told him about the situation.

“We asked him [about it] and he said, ‘I signed a contract to coach here; I want to coach here.’ So he made that clear when he left. We had planned to meet with him in the next couple of days to sit down about the season, and talk to him about this past season. So that’s next on our agenda with Claude.”

The longtime Bruins coach was candid on several occasions throughout the season about this year’s flawed roster, and the fact it didn’t measure up to some of the B’s groups of the recent past. He bluntly admitted “this isn’t the same team” after a crushing loss to the Florida Panthers in the second-to-last game of the season that essentially pushed the Black and Gold out of the playoffs.

With that in mind, things could go in a couple of different directions for a coach that’s been behind the Boston bench since 2007-08. If current assistant GM Don Sweeney gets the job, much of the current infrastructure could remain in place and that would mean Julien at least begins next season coaching into his ninth year with the Bruins.

It might be with more of a mandate from Neely to speed up the attack, open up the offense a little bit and quicken the transition game, but Julien certainly has shown the ability to adapt throughout his years in Boston.

If an outside candidate like Ray Shero takes over the Bruins gig, then all bets are off with the coaching staff or members of the front office – like Sweeney, Scott Bradley and John Ferguson – potentially sticking around for next season.

“Having been through this process before, when we transitioned from Mike O’Connell to Peter [Chiarelli], [keeping the coaching staff] was part of the interview process. It was a question that was asked of all the candidates. But in all candor, in order to find the best candidate, you have to give them the freedom to make those decisions on their own,” said Charlie Jacobs. “They have to arrive at their own conclusions, without prejudice from management. That’s how you allow them to fulfill their duties to the best of their abilities.

“So it will be part of the process; we will certainly say, ‘We think we have a good coach, we’d like to hear your input on it; the decision is ultimately yours, new GM.”

One wrinkle in this situation is the new NHL rules in place about compensation to teams for coaches and executives under contract moving to new teams: Julien certainly would be in demand around the NHL if Boston no longer wanted him as their head coach.

Any team hiring someone from another organization under contract to be a GM, coach or president, must compensate the team losing a contracted employee with a draft pick. If the hiring is done in the off-season, the team hiring the new man must surrender a third-round pick. If it’s done mid-season, the pick becomes a second-rounder.

The Ottawa Senators were actually awarded Boston's third round pick back in 2006 when the Bruins plucked Chiarelli from their group, and the Sens turned that into mammoth former BU standout, and current contributing D-man, Eric Gryba.

Perhaps they could wrangle a draft pick for Julien from a team desperate for the kind of structure and discipline he can immediately bring to the table, but Neely said it wasn’t something he’s discussed, or even thought about at this point.

“I haven’t even…I can’t…I haven’t even entertained that, nor have I really…I think that we have a good coach, as Charlie [Jacobs] had mentioned; that’s not something I’ve entertained,” said Neely.

That certainly felt like a true statement from the B’s president. After all, Chiarelli is going to be in major demand in markets like Toronto and Ottawa now that he’s been cut loose by the Bruins organization.

To that end, wouldn’t the Bruins have also held onto Chiarelli looking for compensation from a team like the Sens or Leafs desperate for him, rather than cutting him loose on Wednesday with an “exhaustive search” for a new GM ahead of them?

That’s something to keep in mind as the wacky conspiracy theories and off-the-wall suggestions start pouring in now that the GM spot is wide open for candidates on a premier Original Six team in Boston. But the bottom line is this: the situation in Pittsburgh last year is mirroring Boston this offseason when both Ray Shero and Dan Bylsma were ultimately out, but the coach’s fate was ultimately sealed by Jim Rutherford upon his arrival in Pittsburgh.

So it’s not looking good for Julien, but perhaps there’s still a shot if Sweeney gets the gig and opts to at least open next season with much of the status quo rather than a complete overhaul.

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