from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

After years of speculation and intensifying recent rumors, the Bruins on Tuesday finally fired Claude Julien, the coach with the most wins in franchise history (419), and replaced him on an interim basis with assistant coach Bruce “Butch” Cassidy.

The move, widely denounced as tone deaf because it coincided with the Patriots Super Bowl victory parade, was made with 27 games to go in the regular season and less than 72 hours after the Bruins suffered a crushing 6-5 loss to the Maple Leafs on home ice.

Dismissing the timing as unfortunate, general manager Don Sweeney once more stated that he believes in his team and holds out hope for the playoffs. Sweeney also said he is building a list of candidates to hire as head coach for next season should the 51-year-old Cassidy fail to prevent the franchise from missing the postseason for a third straight season.

“I wasn’t ready to commit on a longer-term basis with Claude,” explained Sweeney, who was new in the Boston front office when then-GM Peter hiarelli hired Julien following the 2006-07 season. “I felt there was a level of frustration in our wins and losses . . . and felt we would be in a better position moving forward to allow our players to be assessed . . . as to who is part of our group.”

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