The Bruins did the right thing retaining coach Claude Julien. While its easy to place the blame for the Bruins failures the past two seasons at his feet, the reality is Julien doesn’t have the players necessary to coach this team to a cup.

General manager Don Sweeney needs to equip Julien with the right players. I know the Bruins love their core but it might be time to trade a couple of those guys. Sweeney has to do what ever it takes this off-season to make this team better. Julien can coach what ever you give him but the better the talent, the better chance that the Bruins contend.

I know some Bruins fans were itching to see Julien go but that would have been a mistake. No offense to Nate Leaman or Ted Donato but they are not better coaches than Julien. They are college coaches. They can’t relate to NHL players like Julien can. 

The Bruins will be fine behind the bench. The pressure is on Cam Neely and Don Sweeney to get the Bruins back on track. They are well liked and respected because they are Bruins legends. Eventually however, the gloss will wear off the baseball card. Bruins fans are impatient. If this team fails to make the playoffs next year, it’ll be on Neely and Sweeney. 

If the Bruins fired Julien, he would have had a new job within days. They chose to keep him and that was a smart move long term.