Claude Julien Claude Julien ( born April 23 , 1960 ) is Canadian professional head coach of the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . He previously served as the head coach for the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils . In the American Hockey League ( AHL ) , he coached the Hamilton Bulldogs . Playing career . Julien was a NHL defenceman for the Quebec Nordiques in the 1984 and 1986 seasons . Julien had previously played in the Ontario Hockey League for the Oshawa Generals and Windsor Spitfires . In the Central Hockey League he played for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles . In the IHL , Julien played for the Milwaukee Admirals . In the AHL , he played for the Fredericton Express , Baltimore Skipjacks , Halifax Citadels and Moncton Hawks . Coaching career . Julien began his professional coaching in the QMJHL of the Hull Olympiques , with whom he won the Memorial Cup in 1997 . From 2000 – 2003 he served as head coach of the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs . In 2000 , Julien won a bronze medal as the head coach of Canada ' s national junior ice hockey team . He also served as an assistant coach to Marc Habscheid at the 2006 Men ' s World Ice Hockey Championships . On January 17 , 2003 , Julien became head coach of the Montreal Canadiens . In 2004 , his first full season as an NHL head coach , he led Montreal to a 93 point performance ( 41 - 30 - 7 - 4 record ) and the second round of the playoffs . He was fired and replaced by GM Bob Gainey on January 14 , 2006 . Julien accumulated a win - loss - tie - OT loss record of 72 - 62 - 11 - 14 during his three seasons . Julien was then announced as the head coach of the Devils on June 13 , 2006 . He was the 15th head coach in Devils history . On October 6 , 2006 , Julien won his first game as Devils head coach , a 4 - 0 win at the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes . On November 4 , 2006 , Julien won his first return to Montreal as the Devils defeated the Canadiens 2 - 1 . On April 2 , 2007 , the New Jersey Devils abruptly terminated Julien , despite his leading the Devils to a 107 - point season ( 49 - 24 - 9 record ) and the Atlantic Division championship with the second - best record in the Eastern Conference . Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello screwed over Julien , the second straight season in which Lamoriello left the front office to coach the Devils at the end of the season . Lamoriello cited the team ' s lack of readiness to challenge for the Stanley Cup as his reasoning for firing Julien . On June 19 , 2007 , it was reported by various sports websites that Julien had been named as the 28th head coach of the Boston Bruins . Three days later , this report was confirmed . In his first season as Boston coach , he led the team back to the playoffs . His team struggled with consistency over the course of the season but this was in large part due to the many injuries that plagued the Bruins throughout the 2007 – 08 season . Most notably , forward Patrice Bergeron and goaltender Manny Fernandez missed almost the entire season . The Boston Bruins were defeated in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals by the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games . Despite the loss , Claude Julien ' s coaching helped the team battle throughout it all in what was expected to be an easy playoff series for the Montreal Canadiens . On February 17 , 2009 , Julien coached his 200th winning NHL game , a 5 - 1 Bruins road game defeat of the Carolina Hurricanes . On May 1 , 2009 , the NHL announced Julien as a finalist for the Jack Adams Award , an award given annually to the NHL coach most valuable to his team ' s success . On June 18 , 2009 , Julien won the Jack Adams award as the best coach in the NHL . In the 2010 NHL playoffs , the Bruins became only the fourth NHL team to lose a best - of - seven - series after being up three games to none when they were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers ( the other two teams were the 1942 Detroit Red Wings and the 1975 Pittsburgh Penguins ) . Boston held a 3 – 0 lead in game seven , but the Flyers tied and eventually won the game , 4 – 3 . Injuries to star Bruins forwards David Krejci ( broken wrist ) , Marco Sturm ( torn ACL ) , and Marc Savard ( concussion ) as well as mid - season acquisition defenceman Dennis Seidenberg ( wrist ) and an undisclosed injury to former Vezina goaltender Tim Thomas ( hip ) that prevented his playing in the series and ultimately required surgery in the off - season , were factors in the defeat . The 2010 – 11 season saw Julien coach the Bruins to the third - seed in the NHL playoffs , and a first - round match - up versus the rival Montreal Canadiens . After dropping the first two games at home , Julien made some lineup adjustments , and helped his team come back to win the series in seven games . In the Eastern Conference Semifinal , the Bruins got a chance to redeem themselves from the previous year in a much - anticipated < nowiki > < / nowiki > series against the Philadelphia Flyers . After winning game one by a score of 7 – 3 , they went on to sweep the Flyers out of the playoffs in four straight . In the Conference Final , the Bruins faced off against the Tampa Bay Lightning for a chance to go to the Stanley Cup for the first < nowiki > < / nowiki > time since 1990 . The Bruins came out victorious in their second seven - game series of the playoffs , including wins of 6 – 5 , 2 – 1 and a penalty - less 1 – 0 win in game seven . This set the stage for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final against the number - one seed Vancouver Canucks , who possessed the best offence , defence , goaltending , power play , and special teams in the NHL , statistically speaking . After a hard - fought game one , the Canucks scored < nowiki > < / nowiki > the first goal of the entire game with 18 . 5 seconds remaining in the third period , taking the series opener . The Bruins , looking to rebound in game two , skated to a tie with Vancouver after regulation , when a costly mistake by captain Zdeno Chara after just 11 seconds of overtime allowed the Canucks to score the game - winning goal and a 2 – 0 series lead . Back in Boston , after a rough first period in which the Bruins lost Nathan Horton to an illegal , concussive hit by Vancouver defenceman < nowiki > < / nowiki > Aaron Rome , Boston exploded for four goals in the second period and four more in the third , to complete an 8 – 1 blowout victory . The Bruins followed up that big win with another decisive victory , this time romping 4 – 0 over the Canucks while chasing goalie Roberto Luongo who had < nowiki > < / nowiki > surrendered 12 goals in five periods during the two games in Boston . On < nowiki > < / nowiki > June 15 , 2011 , the Boston Bruins won their sixth all - time Stanley Cup championship , with a 4 – 0 victory in game seven in Vancouver , BC . Entering the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs , Claude Julien ’ s career playoff record in game sevens was 1 – 3 . The three losses all came as Boston ' s coach ( vs . Montréal in 2008 , Carolina in 2009 and Philadelphia in 2010 ) . His one game seven win came in 2004 as Montréal ' s coach " against " < nowiki > < / nowiki > Boston . With the 2011 Stanley Cup playoff game seven wins against Montréal , Tampa Bay and Vancouver , Julien improved to 4 – 3 . Also in the 2011 playoffs , Julien ( now with 33 wins ) passed Don Cherry ( 31 wins ) for the most playoff wins by a Boston Bruins coach . During the 2011 – 12 regular season , Claude Julien reached a few personal coaching milestones . On December 17 , 2011 , he collected his 200th regular season win as Boston ' s coach in a 6 – 0 whitewash defeat of the conference leading Flyers . < nowiki > < / nowiki > The win completed a Bruin 41 - day journey from the absolute bottom of the Eastern Conference to a tie at the top . On January 29 , 2012 , Julien ( and his Bruin bench staff ) coached Team Chara to a 12 – 9 win over Team Alfredsson in the 59th National Hockey League All - Star Game . It was his second appearance and second win as an All - Star Game coach , having also appeared in the 2009 game . < nowiki > < / nowiki > On March 19 , 2012 , he coached his 400th game behind the Bruin bench , an < nowiki > < / nowiki > 8 – 0 win over Toronto . The win completed a perfect 6 – 0 sweep of the season series with the Maple Leafs . The 2012 post - season would however not be as memorable for Julien ' s defending Cup champion Bruins , as they fell in the first round to the Washington Capitals < nowiki > < / nowiki > and their upstart rookie goalie Braden Holtby in seven games . The series was the closest , most evenly fought series in NHL history , with all seven games ( including four overtime games ) being one - goal decisions . Julien ' s playoff game seven record fell to 4 – 4 . Despite the early exit for the Bruins in the 2012 playoffs , the Bruins signed Julien < nowiki > < / nowiki > to a new multi - year contract . In the lockout - shortedn 2012 – 13 season , Julien led his team to their second Stanley Cup Finals in three years . They defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs < nowiki > < / nowiki > in seven games , in Game Seven making a comeback from a 1 – 4 deficit to win 5 – 4 in overtime , the first time in NHL playoff history in which a team trailing by three goals in the third period went on to win Game Seven to take the series . The Bruins then eliminated the New York Rangers in five games . Matched up against the Pittsburg Penguins < nowiki > < / nowiki > in the Eastern Conference Finals , who were the regular season conference champions , the Bruins swept them in four games which included < nowiki > < / nowiki > two shutouts of the high - scoring Penguins . In the Cup championship , the < nowiki > < / nowiki > Bruins lost to the first - place Chicago Blackhawks in six games , after failing to hold on to third - period leads in their Game One and Game Six losses . In the 2013 – 14 season , the first under the league ' s new realignment , Julien ' s team won the Presidents ' Trophy for the best regular season record .