The Boston Bruins have agreed to a three-year contract extension with coach Claude Julien, according to CBC’s Elliotte Friedman. The 54-year-old is in his eighth season as the Bruins’ bench boss.
When Julien took over the team, Boston had missed the postseason for two straight campaigns and hadn’t won a playoff series over its last seven seasons. Under his guidance though, Boston has reached the postseason for seven straight years and in 2011, the Bruins won their first championship since the 1970s. They made it to the finals again in 2013, but lost to Chicago.
Not including tonight’s game against Ottawa, Julien has won 435 career regular season games, which is good for 28th place on the all-time head coaching list. Julien also won the Jack Adams Award in 2009.
This season might be one of his most challenging in years though. The Bruins were forced to watch Jarome Iginla walk over the summer due to cap restraints and they traded defenseman Johnny Boychuk for the same reason. They’re also trying to get by right now without Zdeno Chara (knee), Torey Krug (finger), and David Krejci (undisclosed).