Montreal Canadiens: Claude Julien is on the hot seat

With the Montreal Canadiens approaching another season without the playoffs, the pressure and spotlight are now on Claude Julien.

The Montreal Canadiens are on their second drought of the season, having lost their last seven games. To make matters worse, three of the losses were against Atlantic Division teams who the Habs are in direct competition for a playoff spot while their latest was against the Detroit Red Wings. As we looked at earlier, the Canadiens have a horrible record against teams in the cellar of the NHL losing all three games to Detroit and twice to the New Jersey Devils.

Claude Julien was visibly frustrated after Tuesday’s game, and as much as it had to do with the team’s performance, his future may be part of it as well.

If the Habs head coach wasn’t in the hot seat before, he definitely should be now. Marc Bergevin has tried to shift the focus to how badly the team is injured, yet there is little excuse for how things have gone. Montreal had the lead going into the second half of the third period, and they allowed Detroit to tie the game and give up the winner (to Filip Zadina no less).

Julien’s commitment to defence-first has held them to six one-goal defeats during this drought. Either the Habs get the lead and allow the opposition to battle back or are down early and don’t have to overcome the deficit.

That being said, the head coach doesn’t deserve all the blame. This is still Marc Bergevin’s team, and regardless of the injuries, not enough was done to bring the roster to its maximum potential. They walked into the 2019-20 season, a team that must rely on its goaltender for success and can’t turn around and win a game for them.

If Carey Price makes a mistake that leads to a goal against, there’s a good chance that mistake costs them the game. It shouldn’t be like that. Sure, you’d rely on your starter to be steady, but what goaltender is perfect?

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Connor Hellebuyck is the main reason why the Winnipeg Jets have soared despite their blueline, and he’s had some poor performances this year. The same goes for Brayden Holtby in Washington or Tuukka Rask in Boston. The difference is the team has the offensive skill to bail out their goaltender on nights like those.

Do the Montreal Canadiens have that? Yes and no.

Most of that talent is out of the lineup due to injuries, whereas the likes of Max Domi, Tomas Tatar, and Nick Suzuki are trying to make up for that void. The fault goes on Julien for committing to a defence-heavy system without the talent left to win hockey games. Blame also falls on Bergevin despite his best efforts over the offseason.

However, the easiest position to change is the head coach which puts Claude Julien on the hot seat. Think back to when Julien was first hired. The Montreal Canadiens were first in the Atlantic in the 2016-17 season but were not playing the right way for success in the playoffs. Bergevin pulled the trigger firing Michel Therrien in February in favour of Julien. Therefore we have an established standard of Bergevin making decisions he deems necessary for the success of the team.

This season will go down as the season of the head coach as there have been several firings. Mike Babcock, John Hynes, Peter Deboer, and most recently, Peter Laviolette were all removed from their positions after poor performances this year.

There would be a lot of names to choose from, all with a lot of experience on their resume if the Habs wanted to. The ‘French’ angle is one thing, but Montreal was one of the teams in on Mike Babcock back in 2015 when he was entertaining jobs from other organizations. Is Deboer a fit, a coach who is open to the idea of offensive play.

At the same time, it looks as if the plan is to have Joël Bouchard from the Laval Rocket coach the Habs one day, but he’s a season and a half into his professional career. The same goes for assistant coach Dominique Ducharme who has been with the Canadiens for the same amount of time.

Even if they are the ‘next ones,’ it would be difficult for Bergevin to stretch things out for that long. He’s made it clear the Habs have aspirations to make the playoffs every season. Can he afford to wait?

It will be the Montreal Canadiens fourth time missing the playoffs five seasons if things continue this way. The time for excuses will be officially over, and some kind of change must occur.