It’s 2003 all over again in Montreal.

After more than a year on the hot seat, the Canadiens fired coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with Claude Julien – the same order of succession behind the Habs’ bench as 14 years ago – in a bombshell sure to set alight one of the NHL’s best rivalries.

Julien lingered on the market for exactly one week between jobs before bolting for Boston’s arch nemesis. He was quickly snapped up by a scuffling Canadiens squad after at least one other team, believed to be the Vegas Golden Knights, formally asked the Bruins for permission to speak to him.

“I came to the conclusion that our team needed a new energy, a new voice, a new direction,” Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin said in a statement. “Today we hired the best available coach and one of the league’s best.”

Amazingly, Florida Panthers interim coach Tom Rowe – who was hired in November – is now the sixth longest-tenured coach in the eight-team Atlantic Division.

Therrien, 53, became the first coach fired while his team held first place (58+ games into a season) in their division since the 2007-08 Ottawa Senators replaced John Paddock with Bryan Murray.

The season before, Julien was fired with New Jersey in first place with three games remaining in the 2006-07 season.

In Julien, the Canadiens hired an experienced Stanley Cup winner, viewed as one of the top head coaches in the NHL - one who also happens to be fluently bilingual. Bergevin, who did not address the media on Tuesday, mentioned in his statement that Julien’s “good knowledge” of the unique Montreal market was an apparent selling point.

Julien, who was fired by the Bruins three games short of his 1,000th behind an NHL bench, will now reach that milestone on Feb. 23 against the New York Islanders, coaching the same team with which he began his career.

Julien was fired in Boston with two years remaining on his contract at $2.5 and $3 million, but it is believed he received a sizeable pay raise to take the Habs’ job. Boston could have blocked Montreal from hiring Julien since he was under contract, knowing that they’d eventually still be let off the hook financially with another interested team.

The Canadiens could have been swayed by the rebound of the three other teams who recently fired their coaches. The Islanders are 8-2-2 under new coach Doug Weight, the St. Louis Blues are 5-1-1 under Mike Yeo and the Bruins have yet to lose (3-0-0) since Bruce Cassidy took over.

Therrien ends his second tour of duty with the Canadiens ranking fourth in franchise history in both games (542) and wins (271) – behind Toe Blake, Dick Irvin and Scotty Bowman. The Habs were 194-121-37 under Therrien this time around, advancing to the 2014 Eastern Conference final.

However, the Canadiens never recovered their promise from that playoff run, plummeting from the top team in the NHL to 22nd place when all-world goaltender Carey Price went down with a knee injury.

The Habs started off with a sparkling 13-1-1 mark this year, but levelled off with an 18-18-7 mark since, and stumbled into their five-day bye week with a 4-0 loss to the hated Bruins on Sunday night.

The Canadiens and Bergevin reportedly asked for permission from the Bruins to negotiate with Julien that same day, largely in the hopes of turning around their season.

After all, the last time Therrien was fired midseason – exactly eight years ago after a 2009 Valentine’s Day loss - the Pittsburgh Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup that spring.

Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli