WILMINGTON, Mass. — Things changed drastically in just one day away for Claude Julien.
The Bruins coach returned to work on Tuesday after spending Monday in Montreal to attend the funeral of former Bruins coach Pat Burns. And Julien came back to see his options on the blue line greatly reduced with Matt Hunwick traded to Colorado on Monday night.
The move was made to clear salary cap space for Marc Savard, who is expected to be activated from long-term injured reserve soon. But while Julien understood the business reasons for the trade, that didn't mean he was thrilled to lose the services of his best skating defenseman.
"I don't think I'm happy about it, but I realize what's going on here," said Julien after practice at Ristuccia Arena. "We lost a good player and everybody in the dressing room probably feels the same way, but it's going to happen and it's going to happen every year. … He's a good player but a great person. You hate parting with those kind of people, but it's a business."
Julien exchanged text messages with Hunwick Monday night, and the coach wished his former charge the best in Colorado.
"I told him, 'You're a good player and a great person and it's unfortunate that those things happen not always for the right reasons, but best of luck and keep your head up,'" said Julien.
Julien is confident Hunwick will find success with the Avalanche. But he also knows it will be tough to replace the speed and puck-moving ability Hunwick brought to Boston's blue line.
"It was hard to let a guy go like that because he was our best skater back there, probably the guy that you leaned on the most to bring the puck up the ice," said Julien. "I guess the feeling is that our organization feels that there's a few of those guys that are up-and-coming in the minors and we'll be able to fill those voids hopefully sooner than later. But we had to make some room. Those are things that are done for the situation of liberating some cap space."
The Bruins do have high hopes for defensive prospects like Steve Kampfer, Matt Bartkowski and Yury Alexandrov in Providence, as well as Colby Cohen, the young blueliner they acquired from Colorado for Hunwick. But those are long-range plans.
For the immediate future, Adam McQuaid will return to the lineup. McQuaid brings some additional size and toughness to the defense, but doesn't have the same skill set that Hunwick possesses.
"I've got to put guys in and try to get the most out of them, I guess," said Julien. "I think Adam McQuaid, to me, has been pretty steady, he's been physical. He doesn't have the same elements that Matt Hunwick had. Matt Hunwick is a good skater and could bring the puck up the ice. But he didn't have the toughness that McQuaid has.
"So you've got to play within the strengths, and I think the one thing we want to do is move the puck up the ice as best we can," added Julien. "Sometimes when you don't have those puck-carriers, you've got to have better puck-movers. Our guys have to move the puck a little better. That's the way I would tell you right now that we're going to have to compensate with his loss."
