The coach gave his assessment of the new additions to the Montreal roster, affirming that his club has been much improved with the changes brought in by general manager Marc Bergevin:
"It's pretty exciting. I feel like we have a really good, competitive team right now. A lot of these different things that we had looked at to improve our team have been taken care of. I think it's pretty clear that if and when we do go back to work, there are going to be a lot of teams crammed up [in the standings]. So the fact of having Jake Allen as our [backup] goaltender with Carey Price gives us a real one-two punch that will allow us to win some games and be competitive. I like the fact that our D has gotten bigger and stronger, but also, there's still a good versatility there. There's some good puck movement from our group there. That should definitely help our transition game. And then up front, what can you say: we got bigger. We also got some scoring punch. You hope that Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli come in and continue to score the way we've seen them score in the past. All that will increase our production as well. I really like everything Marc has done. He's given us an opportunity to be really competitive. I think as a coach, and as a coaching staff talking to our guys there, we're really excited to come back to work and work with this group."
Julien hasn't settled on his line combinations just yet, but feels the team's added depth will make those decisions much easier for him and his staff:
"I can do them right away, but they'll probably change tomorrow. That's the nice thing about our forwards: we can move players around here and there and still have good lines. It's exciting; we have some depth and we have choices we can make as we go along, from game to game or even in the middle of a game. It gives our team more balance."
With the power play struggling last season, the Canadiens skipper believes that Bergevin's acquisitons will bolster their work on the man advantage:
"Guys like Toffoli, we know he can score; he's definitely a good addition. When you look at a guy like Josh Anderson, he has a big body and he does a good job in front of the net. We have some elements that we can put in certain positions that are definitely going to help our power play. For sure, we went out to get players who could help us in that area, and we intend on exploring our options there."
Julien on whether he will be bringing any changes to the team's system as a result of all the changes:
"I don't know if there was really an issue with the system more than there was maybe an issue with the finish. For example, if you want to look at analytics and those kinds of stats, we created a lot five-on-five and at the end of the day, we just couldn't score enough. Defensively, I think we've solidified our back end. With size, strength and experience, we're going to be a tougher team to score against. Those kinds of things will take care of themselves without having to change the system. At the end of the day, we were one of the teams that had the most shots on net per game; there were a lot of things offensively that we did well. I think defensively, it was just a matter of getting bigger, stronger, and a little bit more defined in our in our D-zone. There are going to be some small adjustments but no, we're not planning on changing our system."
On his expectations for Alexander Romanov for next season:
"He still has to make the team. But the reason we're anticipating and predicting that he'll make the team is that he was dominant in those two World Junior Championships. Also, he's played professionally in the KHL for two years; he's a guy who has quite a bit of experience. He has the size to play in the NHL, he has all the assets. I'm going to be honest with you, I'd be surprised if he didn't start the season with us, given everything we've seen of him so far. Listen, we had the chance to see him during the playoffs with the group of players he was practicing with, you could see he's a strong guy, he's ready, and he has experience with players of that caliber. It's part of our job to anticipate and evaluate a player, but for the moment, I would say it's more likely than not that we see him with our team."
