Therrien out, Julien in: 3 thoughts after Habs' shock coaching move

Never a dull moment in Montreal. Not even during the Canadiens' bye week.

General manager Marc Bergevin fired Michel Therrien on Tuesday, as another promising Habs start to the season appears headed for disaster. Even better, Bergevin replaced Therrien with former Boston Bruins - and former Canadiens - head coach Claude Julien, who was unemployed for about five minutes, in a stunning shakeup.

And make no mistake: It's a shocking move. Sure, Therrien had to have been looking over his shoulder, but surely he didn't think it would be Claude Julien behind him.

Here are three thoughts as we breathlessly await Montreal's next game, four long days away.

'Bout that action

Bergevin deserves credit. He made a move. Everyone was expecting a trade - dreamers in Montreal are still hoping for that bleu, blanc, et rouge Matt Duchene jersey - but ditching Therrien for Julien is arguably more significant.

And time was of the essence. Boston had reportedly been asked by multiple teams to speak with Julien, which makes sense, since a coach in the NHL is fired at least once a week these days, and with Montreal slipping again come winter, Bergevin had to act fast. He did.

It's one thing to fire Therrien and give Kirk Muller the interim head coaching job. Muller wasn't around last year, when Montreal's season went to hell after Carey Price was lost to injury. But it's another to fire Therrien and replace him with Julien, who's French Canadian, has over 500 NHL wins to his name, and a Stanley Cup ring.

The reality is: When you've got Price in goal, you have a chance to win the Cup. Bergevin understands that. He also understands that Price is an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2018. The time is now for Montreal.

But 8 months late

While Bergevin deserves credit for this gutsy move, the truth is, it should have happened last summer, after the Canadiens' brutal collapse, the club finishing 38-38-6 and out of the playoffs. It should have happened before June 29, 2016.

Thing is: It's hard to view Tuesday's coaching decision in a vacuum. It's not Therrien for Julien. It's Therrien and P.K. Subban for Julien. And, sure, that's not exactly fair, but since when is fairness part and parcel of this whole sports fan thing?

When Subban was traded, Therrien won the power struggle. Sure, Bergevin was the one who made the Subban-Weber trade, he made the final call, but he did so with the knowledge that Therrien was his head coach. Bergevin chose Therrien, as it was clear Therrien and Subban weren't exactly on the same page.

So, that trade still hurts, despite how good Shea Weber's been, and despite whether Julien prefers Weber to Subban. That trade's going to hurt for a long time, about as long as Weber's monster contract. It simply hurts more on a day like Tuesday, whether that's fair or not.

The Julien effect

The Canadiens, with one win and a shootout loss in seven February games, play only six more games before the March 1 trade deadline. So, the questions - and there are a lot of them - on everybody's minds are pretty simple: Is this it? Is this the Habs team Bergevin intends to go to the dance with, Julien behind the bench instead of Therrien? Or are there more moves coming? Maybe one more move, to go along with the addition of Nikita Nesterov?

What happens if the Canadiens continue to play horrific hockey after their bye week? What if they lose their next three games, and head into Toronto on Feb. 25 absolutely reeling, with the Maple Leafs on their heels in the Atlantic? That would all be something, wouldn't it?

More importantly: Can Julien stop the bleeding? Interestingly enough, he was fired by the league's top possession team (the Bruins are at 55.71 percent), and inherits the third-best club in the Habs, at 52.43 percent. He had a great goalie in Boston, and has an even better one - arguably the best in the world - in his second go-round behind the Canadiens' bench.

Julien always seemed to get the most out of his Bruins teams, especially in the post-2011 Cup years, when Boston was forced to make tough roster decisions, leaving holes on the roster, yet remained competitive. You don't last 10 years in Beantown unless you're doing something right. Now he's tasked with getting the most out of a talented but clearly flawed Canadiens team. Whether he can fix the back end's woes and address the team's suddenly glaring scoring issues will be one of the more fascinating storylines to watch down the stretch.

One thing's for sure: Julien's going to play Alex Galchenyuk more than 16:04 a night. He better. Hopefully that's in the new head coach's contract.

Like we said, never a dull moment. Not even when the Canadiens are on vacation.