MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens fired coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with Claude Julien on Tuesday.
Julien was fired by the Boston Bruins on Feb. 7. He coached the Canadiens from 2003-06 and replaced Therrien in his previous stint as Montreal coach.
"I would like to sincerely thank Michel for his relentless work with the Montreal Canadiens over his eight seasons behind the bench, including the last five seasons when we worked together," Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said. "The decision to remove Michel from his coaching duties was a difficult one because I have lots of respect for him."
Therrien was in the fifth season of his second tenure as coach of the Canadiens, who lead the Atlantic Division with 70 points, but are 1-5-1 in their past seven games. Since starting the season 13-1-1, they are 18-18-7.
Bergevin will hold a press conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard. Julien will be on a media conference call at 1 p.m.
The Canadiens, in the middle of a five-day break, next play at home against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV). Their first practice under Julien is scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m.
This is the second straight season the Canadiens have gotten off to a hot start only to cool off. Last season Montreal won its first nine games and was 17-4-2 on Nov. 25, 2015, when goaltender Carey Price was lost for the season because of a knee injury he sustained in a 5-1 win at the New York Rangers. The Canadiens went 21-34-4 the rest of the season and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Bergevin made several moves in the offseason to try to keep that from happening again, most notably trading defenseman P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators for defenseman Shea Weber on June 29. Bergevin also acquired forward Andrew Shaw from the Chicago Blackhawks, signed forward Alexander Radulov as a free agent and traded center Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals.
The Canadiens had to deal with significant injuries to top center Alex Galchenyuk, right wing Brendan Gallagher and defenseman Andrei Markov in December and January, a contributing factor in Montreal's mediocre record over the past 2 1/2 months. But as players returned to health, the Canadiens did not start winning again. They lost back-to-back games over the weekend, 4-2 to the St. Louis Blues at home on Saturday and 4-0 at the Bruins on Sunday.
The loss in Boston on Sunday was the third time in five games the Canadiens were shut out.
"I came to the conclusion that our team needed a new energy, a new voice, a new direction," Bergevin said. "Claude Julien is an experienced and well-respected coach with a good knowledge of the Montreal market. Claude has been very successful as an NHL coach and he won the Stanley Cup. Today we hired the best available coach, and one of the League's best. I am convinced that he has the capabilities to get our team back on the winning track."
Julien spent the past nine-plus seasons coaching the Bruins. He led them to the Stanley Cup in 2011 and to the Cup Final in 2013. They were 26-23-6 and second in the Atlantic when he was fired.
Julien has 538 wins in 14 seasons with the Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Bruins. His third game with Montreal will be his 1,000th as an NHL coach.
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