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Claude Julien is headed to his second Stanley Cup finals with the Bruins.

(John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY Sports)

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello is a man who never admits to having regrets. If he has them, as he must, he won’t say so.

But with the Boston Bruins reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three seasons, you have to wonder whether Lamoriello would like to have a mulligan on his decision to fire Claude Julien as Devils’ coach back on April 2, 2007.

Since Julien took over the Bruins in 2007-08, he has won 256 regular-season games. The Devils have won 250.

More importantly, Julien has guided the Bruins to 48 playoff victories (and counting), winning one Stanley Cup. The Devils have won 19 playoff games over that time without a Cup.

Lamoriello denies he has any regrets about letting Julien go with three games remaining in the 2006-07 season and the Devils tied for first place in the Atlantic Division.

"No, because I made the decision at that time with the information I had in front of me," Lamoriello told The Star-Ledger. "If you could go back and make decisions again, knowing what you know now, things would be different.

"You can’t look back. You’ve got to trust the position you’re in and the information you have. Nobody else has that information."

Lamoriello would not discuss what information he had at the time that led him to fire Julien, other than to say: "I don’t think we were ready both mentally and (physically) to play the way that is necessary going into the playoffs.

"There’s no question he did a good job for us. There are always circumstances why things are done. You do things for reasons and you never look back."

There was speculation that Julien had lost control of his players, which he has always denied, but Lamoriello took over as interim coach and the Devils lost in the second round of the ’07 playoffs to Ottawa.

Since then, only Mike Babcock (51) has more than Julien’s 48 playoff wins, with Joel Quenneville at 46.

"He’s done a great job with the team ever since he’s been here," Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said of Julien.

Only Babcock (268), Quenneville (266), Alain Vigneault (264) and Bruce Boudreau (258) have more than Julien’s 256 regular season wins, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"I’m not surprised. I couldn’t be happier for Claude. He’s a quality individual and a good friend," Lamoriello said. "He’s done a great job. You like to see good people have success. I’m excited for him, and I’ve told him that."

The last coach to win multiple Cups with the same team was Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman, who won with the Red Wings in 1997, ’98 and 2002.

Julien might’ve had two already if the Bruins hadn’t blown a 3-0 lead to the Flyers in the 2010 best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. That was the first of several times there have been cries to fire him.

"I’ve been here for six years. I think I’ve been fired five times," Julien said Friday night.

The Bruins would undoubtedly have regretted it.