Bruins owner criticizes NHLPA on opening day

Ryan Dadoun

Jan 19, 2013, 8:36 PM EDT

40 Comments

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When the lockout finally ended, Bruins owner and Board of Governors chairman Jeremy Jacobs publicly apologized for the length of the work stoppage. He also expressed optimism about the NHL, saying that “together our collective future is very bright.”

Jacobs spoke again about the work stoppage prior to the start of the Boston Bruins’ season opener against the New York Rangers and took some shots at the NHLPA in the process.

“There was no expression of a desire to do a deal,” Jacobs said in reference to the union, according to ESPN.

Jacobs was also asked how the lockout could have ended earlier and responded with, “You’d really have to ask the other side on that.”

At the same time, the Bruins owner stated that he was the “last guy” that wanted to shut the NHL down, based on the Boston Globe’s transcript. He also cited the Bruins’ success before saying that his “selfish interest definitely was to keep this going within the parameters of the deal that was out there.”

“But it doesn’t make sense for the league long-term,” Jacobs added. “We have a lot of people that were very tired of this. A lot of people that were promised we would right-size this. I had to play a role in it. From a leadership standpoint, I think I had to play a role. To be vilified, I don’t think is right. But what’s my opinion on something like that?”

Before addressing the media, Jacobs spoke to his players and didn’t feel that there was any animosity.

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bostonbornandbred - Jan 19, 2013 at 8:50 PM

Let it be known that Bruins fans HATE this man… The only reason why us fans have faith in the higher ups of the bruins front office is because of Cam Neely… No reason he had to run his mouth on opening day… It’s very similar to when he ran his mouth about Neely during the Stanley cup parade in ’11…. The game of hockey will be better when he steps away from the organization
proudliberal85392 - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:01 PM

Great town, great fans, good team, asshat owner.
- misterchainbluelightning - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:21 PM
  
  Great town……..? LOL I dunno bout that
- habsman - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:44 PM
  
  Racist town.
  - gallyhatch - Jan 19, 2013 at 10:23 PM
    
    Take a look in your own town (assuming you’re from Montreal).
    
    Tensions there have been extremely high over what language to speak. I know of at least two instances where people were beaten (one severely) for doing nothing other than speaking English. Montreal is no better than Boston.
  - misterchainbluelightning - Jan 19, 2013 at 10:39 PM
    
    Unless you’re black
  - habssuck - Jan 19, 2013 at 10:49 PM
    
    And what proof do you have of this? Was this the city where bananas were thrown on the ice at Weekes and fans painted their faces black and dressed up in afros and Subban shirts? Nope, that was montreal. Dumbass…
  - habsman - Jan 19, 2013 at 11:24 PM
    
    Joel Ward, et al.
  - sabatimus - Jan 19, 2013 at 11:40 PM
    
    Ah look, habsman is back. Mr. Irrational himself.
  - hockeyflow33 - Jan 20, 2013 at 1:56 AM
    
    Just so your dumbass is aware, Boston was the first team to have a black man on their roster.
  - micasa81 - Jan 20, 2013 at 8:23 AM
    
    Habsman, just shut it. Please. I hate the Bruins (I’m a Canucks guy) and I grew up loving the Habs (still do) but I live in Boston, and for the most part it has a far more enlightened, tolerant population than most North American cities. If you’re gonna troll, at least stick to actual hockey topics.
  - gallyhatch - Jan 20, 2013 at 9:53 AM
    
    Mrchainbluelightning, do some research, find out what Anson Carter had to say about his years in Boston, then get back to me.
    
    Fwiw, the Joel Ward comments on Twitter didn’t come from Massachusetts, but I don’t have to say that, the trolls know it. They just never let the facts stand in the way of their argument.
    
    These statements are a reflection of the people writing them, and it’s pretty sad & pitiful when it comes right down to it. Keep trolling you clowns, your lack of intelligence is confirmed with every comment you post.
  - drewsylvania - Jan 20, 2013 at 10:57 AM
    
    I see somebody still needs to ***king grow up.
jimw81 - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:17 PM

he’s just pissed that fehr beaten him and bettman. Here is a great question, what has the league done for the fans since the lockout as ended? Absolutely nothing.
- jennettalia - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:26 PM
  
  And what have players done?…
  - handsomepatrick - Jan 19, 2013 at 11:56 PM
    
    Neither the owners or players have given anything other than the sport, But in a sport thats driven by heros and villians, there are no heros and very few villians. The only way that these great athletes and businessmen could be cosidered heroes would be if the players cut their pay by a third and the owners donated all revenue after operating costs to charity. Obviously that’s irrational and will never happen, but let’s not put these guys on a pedastal until something happens.
- myopinionisrighterthanyours - Jan 19, 2013 at 10:43 PM
  
  Sure, his comments are stupid, but would you please like to explain to me exactly how you think the players won?
  - eyeh8goodell - Jan 20, 2013 at 1:16 PM
    
    By not allowing the NHL to get anything close to the deal they really wanted. The word is that the nobody in ownership loves this deal. Nothing fundamental will really change for the have-nots and the haves will have to give even more to the have not’s through revenue sharing. The players agreed to go to 50/50 early in the process so it’s amusing to me that clowns like Jacobs make statements like this. The players weren’t the ones who walked away from 4 proposals after a combined grand total of 1.5 hours of looking them over (3 of which eere rejected within 10 minutes).
    
    The players were the only ones doing any negotiating.
  - namriverrat69 - Jan 20, 2013 at 5:37 PM
    
    Both sides didn’t just reject proposals. They walked away for weeks before coming back to the table. If they were serious they would have taken a few days to a week, put together another proposal and come back to the table maybe a week later, not 2-3 weeks or more. The other side would have made points that needed to be changed and worked toward something that would work. The final agreement could have been has out a week after September 15 or even before the lockout. Too many egos got in the way.
    
    The best part of the ceremonies was that Bettman didn’t show his ugly mug which would have dragged the party down into the gutter with all his salutorial boos. It just shows that there is a God.
    
    Neither side gave a crap about the fans (again) yet as soon as the puck droped I was back in my seat at Staples Center watching my team play just glad they were back. A hockey fan needs to have a short memory so they can get over being dissed as they are. It doesn’t do any good to carry a grudge. It will eat you up inside. I have only one more thing to say:
    
    GO KINGS!! GO KINGS!!
    
    Where is Blomfeld?
zetaone - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:21 PM

Meanwhile NHL.com (gamecenter live) fails to work yet again on opening week. Laggy, and freezing issues all day long, their phones so tied up, all you get is a busy signal. They didn’t even offer a free preview weekend like they did last season. What a joke this league is. You had 6 months to prepare for this.
- antkowiak666 - Jan 20, 2013 at 9:20 AM
  
  NHL CENTER ICE $49.99….can’t beat that.
  - namriverrat69 - Jan 20, 2013 at 5:50 PM
    
    Unless your 49.99 center ice puts you center ice in the rafters.
govtminion - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:29 PM

Dear Jeremy,

Eff you, dude. Just… please shut up and go away.

Signed,

Bruins fans
dkphilly1122 - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:43 PM

I wish Jacobs would read sites like this and the comments in the articles about him. It is pretty pathetic when your own Bruin fans hate you. Take some advice from the cooler owners in the league and stop acting like you are God, cause you are just an a$$hole with money and power struggle issues!! As a Flyer’s fan I have a ton of respect for Bruin fans, but this dude needs to go buy a small island somewhere and never come back!!
- flyersphan28 - Jan 20, 2013 at 3:40 AM
  
  being flyers fans, i think we are a lil spoiled with snider cuz hes an excellent owner, and ive yet to hear one player or some1 in management say any different
1943mrmojorisin1971 - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:45 PM

I think what he means to say is that the players never expressed a desire to bend over when the owners said so.
revansrevenant - Jan 19, 2013 at 9:54 PM

Even Bruins fans hate this guy. He spent 40 years nickel and dimeing(sp?) the team into mediocrity, and then finally decides that since there is a salary cap and his profits are assured he’ll spend as much money as he can to win a Cup. And then he has the audacity to think that winning one Cup earns forgiveness for his BS. I don’t think any Bruins fan is buying what he is shoveling.
alexb64 - Jan 19, 2013 at 10:05 PM

This doesn’t even mention how Jacobs actually said that the deal they agreed to was the same one the players “walked away from” in October, as if no one in the media had a memory that went further back than a few days or something. A lot of the tweets I saw from the beat writers said Jacobs showed them a lack of respect expecting them to buy that nonsense.
Jeff - Jan 19, 2013 at 10:49 PM

The NHL and the players have done absolutely nothing, and I bet there will be another work stoppage before this CBA runs out.
buff80 - Jan 19, 2013 at 11:30 PM

What a tool. He was a big part of the problem during the lockout. Glad Ryan Miller put him in his place
jcmeyer10 - Jan 19, 2013 at 11:34 PM

As a Bruins fan I want to say SHUT UP!
gerryf19 - Jan 19, 2013 at 11:53 PM

Always respected Bruins fans and the players, but felt sorry they’ve been stuck with this guy….Boston deserves better
hockeyflow33 - Jan 20, 2013 at 1:58 AM

There’s a reason this guy get booed worse than Bettman at his teams own Cup parade and banner raising night.

I despise him and his fraud of a son.
- namriverrat69 - Jan 20, 2013 at 6:10 PM
  
  If it is any consolation Jerry Buss son Jim Buss has run the team since the last championship. He has taken it apart and done all he can to remov1e any trace of Phil Jackson from the team. Plus he took the opportunity to really stick it to Phil over contract negotiations earlier this year when he pulled the offer out from under Phil Jackson with a middle of the night phone call. No parting gift. Just a “see you on the streets”. Click!
  
  Bye Bye Lakers and Hello Clippers. There will be a new champion basketball team in town in the next year or two. The Kings and Clippers will make nice championship room mates at Staples Center. The Lakers are becoming irrevelant. Who knew Jim Buss had the type of talent that could destroy a team in so short a time and be able to place all the blame on others?
  
  Makes me glad I’m a Kings Fan.
  
  GO KINGS!!
phillyphanatic77 - Jan 20, 2013 at 3:02 AM

You mean the lockout would’ve ended earlier if the players accepted the owners terms straight up? How very surprising. I think most hockey fans would be happy to never hear from this tyrant again. Terrible timing for this dbag to bring it up. I’d say this proves just how little this guy thinks of hockey fans.
pastabelly - Jan 20, 2013 at 6:12 AM

Most of us Bruins don’t like Jacobs. The ONLY reason he even started spending on players was when the great hockey fans of Boston stopped showing. Our reward for showing back up once they started spending and Peter C made good moves was incredibly higher ticket prices. Jacobs is a pig. I’ll go to my games, but not buy his overpriced concessions.
pastabelly - Jan 20, 2013 at 6:15 AM

For what it’s worth, many in Boston would like to see this carpetbagger remain in Buffalo full time and sell to local people who actually love hockey. People like Jacobs and Bettman aren’t even hockey guys.
arbruins - Jan 20, 2013 at 7:56 AM

I have been a Bruins fan since the 70′s and in all honesty, I Hate Habsman more than I hate Jacobs. Jacobs isn’t a troll.
- habsman - Jan 20, 2013 at 8:38 AM
  
  That’s very hurtful, don’t you know I’ve got feelings?
sabatimus - Jan 20, 2013 at 5:15 PM

Jacobs and his son were handing out concession vouchers and shaking hands at yesterday’s game. I’d have given him the finger if I’d been there and weren’t reasonable certain I’d be shown the door.

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