After being out of the league for the last three seasons, the former Boston Bruins head coach was hired by the St. Louis Blues as an assistant coach on Thursday, joining a staff led by new head coach Drew Bannister.
Julien’s hiring in St. Louis coincides with the team’s promotion of long-time assistant coach Steve Ott to an associate coaching role. Under Bannister, St. Louis’ coaching staff now consists of Ott as the associate coach, Julien and Mike Weber as assistant coaches, Drew Alexander as the goaltending coach, and Michael Babcock as the skills coach.
This is Julien’s first job in the NHL since being fired as the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on February 24, 2021. Julien spent parts of five seasons with the Canadiens during what was his second stint in Montreal. Prior to that, Julien famously was the head coach of the Bruins for nearly 10 years.
Hired by the Bruins in 2007, Julien compiled a record of 419-246-94 behind the bench in Boston and is the winningest coach in the club’s history. The Bruins made seven playoff consecutive playoff appearances under Julien from 2007 to 2014 and won the sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2011. Julien won the 2009 Jack Adams Award as that year’s best head coach after the Bruins compiled a 116-point season, falling one point shy of the President’s Trophy.
As remarkable as Julien’s tenure was in Boston, it quickly soured when the Bruins failed to make the playoffs in 2015 and 2016. After starting the 2016-17 season with a record of 26-23-6, the Bruins fired Julien on Feb. 7, 2017, the same day as the New England Patriots Super Bowl parade, and replaced him with Bruce Cassidy.
Now in St. Louis, Julien has the opportunity to add a new chapter to his NHL coaching career. Julien has spent 19 years as a head coach in the NHL with the Bruins, Canadiens and New Jersey Devils and has a career record of 667-445-10.
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