Boston Bruins fire head coach Claude Julien

The longest-tenured coaching relationship in the NHL is no more.

The Boston Bruins moved on from Claude Julien on Monday, firing the 56-year-old head coach early in the morning just days after a 6-5 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Julien had coached the Bruins for the last 10 seasons.

Assistant coach Bruce Cassidy will replace Julien behind the bench on an interim basis.

Julien’s Bruins have made the playoffs in all but two seasons under his reign, but those two seasons happen to be the most recent ones. Boston doesn’t look like a surefire playoff contender again this year, either — they sit a point back of the Flyers for the final Wild Card berth in the Eastern Conference.

Speculation about Julien’s job security have flown about all season, and seemed to reach an apex two weeks ago after a 8-10-5 run since mid-December. At that point, Julien was asked about the rumors and shot them down eloquently, saying he’d do the best he could do while he was still behind the bench.

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The next day, Julien made a comment about his roster’s talent that some took as a slight against general manager Don Sweeney, though it was likely just a motivational tactic.

If it was, it didn’t work. The Bruins dropped the two games before his dismissal by a score of 11-8.

Julien exits Boston as the Bruins’ all-time leader with 419 wins and a Stanley Cup in 2011.