Habs’ Julien undergoes emergency surgery, returns to Montreal

The more we get to know about Montreal Canadiens head coach Claude Julien’s condition, the more we realize he was terribly lucky. 

Julien has returned home to Montreal a day after he had a stent installed in a coronary artery in an emergency procedure on Thursday. He was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto overnight Wednesday as he was experiencing chest pain and had surgery the following day. 

The Canadiens said in a release that doctors expect a full recovery.

Under the NHL rules, Julien will have to follow quarantine protocol if he wishes to re-enter the bubble in Toronto. According to the protocol, team members wanting to return to the bubble must provide four consecutive negative COVID-19 tests carried out over four days. They will be quarantined over at least that time period, and possibly up to 14 days depending on risk of exposure while outside the bubble.

The Canadiens have announced that Kirk Muller will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The players have said that they now wish to win the series for Julien. The Flyers lead the series 1-0. Game 2 is scheduled for Friday afternoon and we know the Habs will be thinking about Julien. 

We don't know if Julien, who is 60 years old, will return to the NHL after this scary incident.