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Julien agrees with Sweeney, says ‘adjustments’ required for Bruins’ ‘transition game’

Claude Julien

Claude Julien

AP

Claude Julien is on the same page with his general manager.

Julien spoke to reporters today for the first time since new GM Don Sweeney confirmed the Bruins’ coach would be back next season. And like Sweeney, Julien believes there are things the B’s can do to get the puck moving a bit quicker out of their end.

“Teams’ forechecking has changed a lot, so there are things we feel we can do with our transition game that we feel we can do a lot better with creating some speed,” said Julien, per the Boston Herald. “We had already kind of addressed that and we’re going to introduce that into camp like we do every year. To me, those aren’t changes. Those are adjustments like we do every year.”

The Bruins finished 2014-15 with the 22nd-ranked offense, their lack of goal-scoring a big reason they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

Of course, it should be noted that, in 2013-14, the B’s had the third-ranked offense. So some of the drop-off in scoring has to be attributed to personnel. Boston lost both Jarome Iginla (to free agency) and Johnny Boychuk (via trade), while David Krejci missed almost half the season due to injury.

Julien also said today that he understands why Sweeney’s decision to retain his services took a bit longer than some felt was necessary.

“He’s got to feel comfortable, too,” said Julien.

Related: Sweeney vows to return ‘aggressiveness’ to Bruins