After years of speculation and intensifying recent rumors, the Bruins on Tuesday finally fired Claude Julien, the coach with the most wins in franchise history (419), and replaced him on an interim basis with assistant coach Bruce “Butch’’ Cassidy.

The move, widely denounced as tone deaf because it coincided with the Patriots Super Bowl victory parade, was made with 27 games to go in the regular season and less than 72 hours after the Bruins suffered a crushing 6-5 loss to the Maple Leafs on home ice.

Dismissing the timing as unfortunate, general manager Don Sweeney once more stated that he believes in his team and holds out hope for the playoffs. Sweeney also said he is building a list of candidates to hire as head coach for next season should the 51-year-old Cassidy fail to prevent the franchise from missing the postseason for a third straight season.

“I wasn’t ready to commit on a longer-term basis with Claude,’’ explained Sweeney, who was new in the Boston front office when then-GM Peter hiarelli hired Julien following the 2006-07 season. “I felt there was a level of frustration in our wins and losses . . . and felt we would be in a better position moving forward to allow our players to be assessed . . . as to who is part of our group.’’

In short, Sweeney came to the belief that the team has the talent to play better than the 26-23-6 record it has logged and that it was time for Julien to step aside before a third DNQ was formally posted.

Julien, 56, who has another year remaining on his contract, believed to be worth some $3 million per season, was not available for comment. As Sweeney noted, Julien is not expected to remain long on the unemployment rolls, given that he won a Stanley Cup here (2011) and has a reputation around the league as one of its most respected and focused bench bosses.

“He’ll be a great coach with another organization in a short time,’’ said Sweeney. “I’m quite positive of that.’’

One of the prime possibilities for Julien’s next stop could be Las Vegas, where the expansion Golden Knights will take the ice for the first time in October. If Vegas GM George McPhee were to hire Julien now, he would have him in place well ahead of the league’s expansion draft in June, giving key insight for the new franchise as it makes crucial personnel decisions on players already in the league.

Meanwhile, Cassidy, like Julien a career minor-league defenseman before he turned to coaching 20 years ago, must figure out a way to recover his team’s psyche and whip it into a consistent winner. His first crack at it will come Thursday night with Jumbo Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks in town.

Based on what he said, Cassidy’s coaching template will resemble that of Julien’s, albeit it with an added emphasis on pace — both in practices and games. He said he wants his team to move more quickly out of its defensive end and attack the net with greater purpose. All the same things Julien said this season, and in the past.

There is no secret sauce in today’s NHL. All 30 teams want to play fast, be tough to defend, and finish better. Ultimately, it comes down to talent and desire, the latter of which was a Bruins trademark when Julien led them to the Cup in 2011.

“We’re not going to reinvent the wheel system-wise,’’ said Cassidy, who was bench boss in AHL Providence for five seasons before joining Julien’s varsity staff this season. “I think there’s a lot of good things in place.

“We’re just going to try to tighten up a few areas, in our end in terms of getting pucks back [to the offense] a little quicker, and then hopefully, at the offensive end, being more opportunistic with our chances.

“Again, that’s easier said than done.’’

Rare are cases such as last season in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins handed a sluggish, underperforming roster to ex-Boston coach Mike Sullivan and watched him direct it to a Stanley Cup. Sullivan’s fresh perspective was undeniable, but he inherited a roster dotted with talent far superior to that now under Cassidy’s watch.

The feisty Brad Marchand has turned himself into one of the game’s top scorers, but other top-six veterans — specifically Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and David Backes — have fallen vastly short of expectations most of this season.

Cassidy’s best hope of reaching the playoffs rests on finding a way for those three to be more consistent point-getters, and for franchise goaltender Tuukka Rask to recover the form that had him 10-1-0 through mid-November. He has gone 15-12-4 since that start, and Saturday night he was yanked midway through the second period after surrendering the three quick goals that put the Leafs in a 4-1 lead.

“Listen, sometimes a new coach comes in, some players get excited,’’ said Cassidy, whose only other NHL coaching stint ended early in his second year (2004) as the Capitals bench boss. “Some, like I said, are not excited. So we’re going to find out Thursday.

“But the guys that are, we hope that they bring that energy, and look at it as a fresh chance, and off we go.’’

Marchand, who noted that the club was losing “a huge asset’’ in Julien, agreed that a coaching change can help, citing recent moves in New York (Islanders) and St. Louis.

“But just because it happens doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for us,’’ he said. “We have to make it happen as a group.

“We have to be better as a group in here as a team and come together. We have to realize we are all in this together and we have a short amount of time to make a push.

“We can’t expect it to happen. We need to make it happen.’’

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.