12/21/24
January 14, 2006
Canadiens slice and dice head coach Claude Julien: Unwilling to wait for a turnaround, the Montreal Canadiens have axed Claude Julien and assistant coach Rick Green. Former Habs player Guy Carbonneau will take over the reins from interim head coach and general manager Bob Gainey at the end of this year.
The players have reacted well (for now), handing the Sharks a 6-2 loss tonight. Even Mark Streit, Gainey's biggest dud this year, had a goal and an assist. Obligatory: does Ted Nolan speak French?
posted by qbert72 at 10:01 PM on January 14, 2006
Great move. Julien is pretty good but I think he's more of a development guy. It would actually be good to see him accept a job in Hamilton or something like that in the organization. Green is no loss at all. I'm sure he does lots of things, but, well, he's a few sandwiches short of a picnic if you know what I mean. The Habs need proven winners, and Carbo and Gainey should be a good team right away and next year when they take their regular positions. It would be really interesting if they could attact Larry Robinson back in some capacity as well.
posted by mikelbyl at 10:59 PM on January 14, 2006
Nice head! Guy Carbonneau was a great leader in Dallas. I would like to see him lead the Stars at some point.
posted by rcade at 11:03 PM on January 14, 2006
they sucked anyways. who really cares if they got "axed".
posted by united-soccer at 12:47 AM on January 15, 2006
...ZZZZZZ Is the NHL still in operation?
posted by The Casual Observer at 05:43 AM on January 15, 2006
Dude, this is so not the site to dis hockey, okay? Put your yawning ignorance back in your pants and take it somewhere else.
posted by chicobangs at 05:54 AM on January 15, 2006
Pretty sure Ted Nolan does speak French, but so does Guy Carbonneau.
posted by mrhockey at 06:27 AM on January 15, 2006
Good for the Canadiens to win for the new coach but WTF happened to the Sharks? One game they beat arguably the best team in the league with a reasonably dominant 2-0 sheet and then next lose to this bunch. They've been very streaky this years, with most of their points coming from three stretches of 5, 6 and 5 wins in a row, not nearly good enough and has taken the team from 104 points and first in the Pacific last season to last place, behind Phoenix as of this morning!
posted by billsaysthis at 01:10 PM on January 15, 2006
I don't have any reason to think this, but I never got the impression that Claude knew what he was doing. So I can't say I'm surprised by, or in disagreement with this decision. Plus, Guy Carbonneau is cool.
posted by fabulon7 at 12:41 PM on January 16, 2006
The pool of coaches available to the Habs is somewhat reduced, given that the coach needs to be bilingual. Someone like Brent Sutter for example, wouldn't be seriously considered. Still, I think Carbonneau has what it takes to be a successful coach in Montreal.