BOSTON— Claude Julien wants the Boston Bruins to play more aggressively. Maybe that will make his bosses less aggressive in changing coaches.

Sitting in the same room where Dave Lewis was introduced as coach less than a year earlier, Julien vowed yesterday to turn mild-mannered forwards into hard-hitting forecheckers for a team that hasn’t won a playoff series in eight years.

“We want to be aggressive, a physical type of team,” the Bruins’ new coach said.

But what about the frequent turnover in the job? Julien is the Bruins third coach in the past year and 17th person to hold that job in the past 30.

“I didn’t really look at that at all,” said Julien, fired April 2 as coach of the Devils, “because you just have to feel confident in your abilities to do the job and I do feel that.”

Lewis, who took over last June 29 after Mike Sullivan was fired, was let go last Friday. Julien had “the inside edge” from the start among four candidates and his deal was finalized Monday, general manager Peter Chiarelli said. He and Julien wouldn’t disclose the length or value of the contract.

Julien, 47, was fired with three games left in his first regular season as coach of the Devils despite having them in first place in the Atlantic Division. General manager Lou Lamoriello, who took over, said he didn’t think Julien had the team ready to challenge for the Stanley Cup. The Devils lost in the second round.