By the high standards of the Boston Bruins, this hasn't been a particularly enjoyable season.
Early injuries to David Krejci and Zdeno Chara put the team squarely behind the eight ball, and they've seemingly been playing catch-up ever since.
Despite the continued development of a few key defensive players like Torey Krug and Dougie Hamilton and the unexpected contributions of David Pastrnak, the team is in desperate danger of missing the playoffs, which could potentially spell the end for head coach Claude Julien in Boston, according to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun.
"The Boston Bruins are sitting out of a playoff spot as we write this and that can't be good for head coach Claude Julien, at least if you go by the veiled hints made this season by the owner's son Charlie Jacobs and team president Cam Neely. It seems crazy to me that Julien, one of the game's most respected coaches and the guy who guided the Bruins to 2011 glory, could be fired. But that's the feeling you get from the vibes coming out of Boston. And if he hits the market, holy moly, that's another huge fish," writes LeBrun.
Julien, in his eighth season at the helm for the Bruins, has led the franchise to the postseason in each of his seven other opportunities. Under his watchful eye, the Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final twice, emerging victorious in 2011.
The Bruins have a 346-190-77 regular season record and a 57-40 record during his tenure.
Were he to actually become available, he would be one of the top coaches on the market, perhaps behind only Detroit's Mike Babcock.
While it's difficult to point to a singular reason for why the Bruins have struggled this season, there's no doubting that they simply don't appear to be the same team that they were in the recent past, with a number of players like Milan Lucic and Chara playing well below their normally elite level.
The Bruins are a team that could be facing the ultimate NHL death knell - the simultaneous decline of a number of important veterans and a dearth of young talent necessary to make up for the mounting losses.
