Montreal Canadiens fire head coach Michel Therrien, hire Claude Julien

Claude Julien did not last long on the coaching market, as the Montreal Canadiens announced Tuesday afternoon that they have let go of head coach Michel Therrien and hired Julien.

The former Bruins coach has been out of a job for only a week, and was highly theorized as a contender for the head coaching job of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Instead, in a surprise turnabout, Julien is headed to Montreal for the second time in his career. This also concludes Therrien’s second stint with the team. He coached the Canadiens from 2000 to midway through the 2002-03 season, but was fired after an 18-19-5 record to start the season. Hired as his replacement over 10 years ago? Julien, who went on to coach the Canadiens for two and a half seasons.

General manager Marc Bergevin had this to say about the firing of Therrien on Tuesday and the hiring of Julien in a statement to NHL.com.

”I would like to sincerely thank Michel for his relentless work with the Montreal Canadiens over his eight seasons behind the bench, including the last five seasons when we worked together. The decision to remove Michel from his coaching duties was a difficult one because I have lots of respect for him. I came to the conclusion that our team needed a new energy, a new voice, a new direction. Claude Julien is an experienced and well respected coach with a good knowledge of the Montreal market. Claude has been very successful as an NHL coach and he won the Stanley Cup. Today we hired the best available coach, and one of the league’s best. I am convinced that he has the capabilities to get our team back on the winning track.”

Therrien coached the Canadiens for the last four and a half seasons, leading Montreal to a 194-121-37 record and three playoff appearances, two of those as the first team in their division.

Though Therrien had led Montreal to success in the past, the writing was on the wall for a move to be made. Fans called for Therrien’s removal over his treatment of defensive star P.K. Subban and the voices only got louder after Subban was traded for Shea Weber in the offseason.

Bergevin had thrown his support behind Therrien in the past and said the moves made and criticism for the construction of the team should fall on his shoulders. The Canadiens failed to make the playoffs last season after goaltender Carey Price was injured and the team collapsed out of a playoff spot.

The subsequent firing of Therrien and the hiring of Julien, the former head coach of Montreal’s on-ice rival since the 1950s, is a shocker. There were rumblings out of NHL insiders that Bergevin had something up his sleeve over the Canadiens’ bye week, but all indications seemed to be a trade.

According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Canadiens asked the Bruins to speak with Julien on Sunday, as his deal with Boston lasts another two years. Therrien’s current deal will run for another two years after this current season at $2 million a season.

With a few more days in their bye week, Montreal will have a bit of time to adjust to their new head coach before stepping out onto the ice again.