The fanbase, unhappy about what had been a prolonged slow start needed someone to blame and the consensus was that the brunt of the blame would go to head coach Claude Julien.
Then, Dec. 23 happened. The Bruins got an inspired effort — keyed by an early Shawn Thornton fight — and went on to beat the Thrashers 4-1. In the 19 games since, they Bruins have collected at least a point in 15 of them and have gone 12-4-3.
Julien deserves a lot of credit for that turnaround. He is now starting to get the most out of his guys, something that he was criticized for frequently early on. There's no doubt this Bruins team is talented, so when they don't perform, it's easy to blame the head coach.
When you think about what Julien has had to deal with this season, his performance is that much more impressive. For instance, how many times have we read a headline starting like this: "Claude Julien shuffles lines…"
They haven't all worked, but Julien has shown the willingness to change things up to try and find the right combination. No one would have thought at the start of the season that the line of Mark Recchi, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand would eventually be the Bruins' best. It's unlikely that Julien had the foresight to see such, but he took a chance moving a rookie like Marchand up to a line like that, and it has paid off.
Injuries have played a part as well. The team's 65 points through 71 games is that much more impressive when you consider they've gone essentially the entire season without much of anything from Marc Savard.
Julien has also shown the willingness to open things up offensively. There's a good chance that strategy came from above Julien, but he's put his ego aside and embraced it some. It's a start.
There's no doubt that the play of Tim Thomas is the biggest reason that the Bruins are where they are right now, right in thick of the Eastern Conference playoffs. But Thomas isn't the only one who deserves the credit, and Claude Julien should certainly get a fair share of credit, too.
Of course, this will all mean nothing if the Bruins once again bow out early in the playoffs. For now, though, you have to give credit where credit is due.
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How would you judge the job Claude Julien has done to this point of the season?Market Research
