Julien's firing doesn't address Bruins' self-created roster mess

Now that the scapegoat has been sacrificed, Cam Neely and Don Sweeney should soon realize the Boston Bruins' problems didn't revolve around coaching.

The president and general manager have played their respective parts in crafting a flawed roster, and neither interim head coach Bruce Cassidy nor his eventual full-time replacement are likely to fare much better than Claude Julien, who was unceremoniously fired Tuesday.

Related - Bruins GM: Want to see how players respond to 'different voice'

Here's a quick look at the state of the roster:

Leaks between the pipes

Tuukka Rask is locked in at a $7-million cap hit until the end of 2020-21. He's an elite goalie with a Vezina Trophy and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on his resume, but in today's NHL, even the best need a modicum of help to offset the rigors of starting night in and night out.

The failure to find a suitable backup goalie has been a huge failure on the part of management, especially this season. In the 11 games in which a goalie other than Rask has started, the Bruins have a 1-9-1 record, amounting to three of a possible 22 points. Banking a few of those could have saved Julien's job.

The jury is still out on whether Zane McIntyre and Malcolm Subban - who was drafted in the first round in 2012 - are keepers, and the hope is Daniel Vladar can turn into a viable option at the pro level down the road. In the meantime, Anton Khudobin isn't cutting it, and Rask needs help as soon as possible.

Holes on the blue line

The Zdeno Chara era could end as soon as the end of 2017-18, when his contract expires. His play has been declining over the past few years, but he remains the anchor on what would otherwise be a sinking ship.

While Torey Krug is proving to be a key component on the blue line, Sweeney appears to have erred in signing the likes of Adam McQuaid and Kevan Miller to extensions. Moving one or both of those players should be a priority.

The next wave of Bruins defensemen looks rather promising, however. Rookie Brandon Carlo is already making a big impact, and Colin Miller is slowly but surely developing into the kind of player they hoped he would be upon acquiring him in the Milan Lucic trade.

The system is chock-full of potential, headlined by a bevy of recent draft picks:

• 2016: Charlie McAvoy, Ryan Lindgren
• 2015: Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon
• 2013: Linus Arnesson
• 2012: Matt Grzelcyk
• 2011: Rob O'Gara

On the flip side, Johnny Boychuk and Dougie Hamilton have been traded in recent years, and neither has been sufficiently replaced among the top-two pairings. Further to that, Joe Morrow is the only player on the Bruins roster directly involved in the Tyler Seguin trade with Dallas, and he couldn't crack the lineup under Julien.

Defense has been an issue for some time, and while help is on the way, this current group isn't quite cutting it. That Boston's blue line needs upgrades has been one of the league's worst kept secrets.

Forwards moving backward

Up front, the Bruins have four players set to make big money for at least the next four seasons:

On top of that, breakout star David Pastrnak is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, and he could easily command a similar contract. Those commitments, along with shorter ones held by Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes, don't leave much room for flexibility.

Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand comprise as formidable a duo as any team would hope to build around, but David Krejci and David Backes are aging assets offering diminishing returns in a time where the NHL is trending younger and faster.

Ideally, that core would be complemented by young players on entry-level contracts (think Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano), but due to the fact Sweeney's draft record has become a meme, questions abound whether recent first-round picks like Zach Senyshyn, Jake DeBrusk, and Trent Frederic can even crack the NHL, let alone be major contributors.

The Bruins had the chance to get ahead of the youth/speed curve by building around Seguin behind Begeron and Marchand; Neely's willingness to sign off on then-GM Peter Chiarelli's shortsighted deal with Dallas is a major factor why the Bruins are a playoff bubble team at best, and likely descending into rebuild mode.

Case in point:

At the end of the day, all coaches get fired at some point, and the temperature had been turned way up on Julien's seat for some time. That the Bruins have missed the playoffs for the past two seasons and are far from a lock this year is more an issue of roster composition than bad coaching, a fact validated by immediate endorsements for Julien to be a candidate for any and all vacant jobs.

Neely and Sweeney have their work cut out for them, but bad trades, ill-advised signings, and poor drafting may have already done them in.