Claude Julien is returning to Montreal where he’ll replace fired Michel Therrien.

Well, it finally happened. The Canadiens had seen enough of Michel Therrien. Montreal has been in a terrible slump. Even with a healthy Carey Price and Max Pacioretty scoring at a great clip, the time had come for them to fire Therrien.

The move comes on the heels of an uncompetitive 4-0 shutout defeat to the Bruins. With the Habs in their bye week, it was a perfect situation. They have hired Claude Julien. It’ll be his second stint behind the Montreal bench. He’s been one of the best coaches in the league. He lasted a decade in Boston winning a Stanley Cup and coming close to winning another.

Eventually, Bruins clown Cam Neely won and got Julien axed. Everyone knew it was gonna happen. At least Boston has responded so far to new coach Bruce Cassidy winning their first three games to get within six of the slumping Canadiens. With the Senators also right there and having an extra five games to make up, the move makes plenty of sense.

Julien is a big upgrade over the predictable Therrien, whose odd line combinations and fights behind closed doors with personnel were hurting the team. Big acquisition Shea Weber has stopped scoring. They recently got back Brendan Gallagher. Alex Radulov has also cooled off. But most notably, the Habs stopped competing for Therrien. They went through the motions and watched Zdeno Chara score a shorthanded goal.

So, now Julien takes over in Montreal. A place he’s familiar with. It should be interesting to see how they respond. But also takes Julien’s name off potential coaching vacancies which could be in Florida, Brooklyn and Las Vegas. Too bad.