Nov 24, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins head coach
Claude Julienlooks on during the overtime period of the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 overtime win at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Charlie Jacobs held a press conference earlier today to announce that he has been named CEO of Delaware North’s Boston Holdings. Delaware North currently owns the Boston Bruins, TD Garden and NESN. Jacobs is currently Principal and Alternate Governor of the Bruins organization. Now, he’s the man that everyone in the Bruins organization answers to. The Bruins new CEO had some hard words for the team and the front office. The Bruins have been struggling all season long. They’re currently out of the playoffs, and their 19-15-6 record puts them in ninth in the Eastern Conference.
Jacobs said missing the playoffs would be an “incredible failure.”
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“When you think about what has been put into this team, in terms of … all of the scouting, all of the drafting, all of the money spent on player personnel, for us to be a team that’s out of the playoffs is absolutely unacceptable. Everybody in the executive office is fully aware of how I feel and they feel the same way, which brings us to this evaluation process, and it’s fluid. I can’t say at any moment that we have a final decision other than to say it would be an utter disappointment and a failure.” Bruins Principal Charlie Jacobs
The mood seemed to change instantly in the Bruins locker room. Yesterday, Bruins head coach Claude Julien waved off a question on whether or not players should start fearing for their jobs. After the press conference, there was a definite change in his attitude.
“To be honest with you,” offered Julien. “I’ve always felt that we’re under evaluation all the time. You don’t take this job and go in there and think it’s OK. Every year you’re being evaluated on what’s going on with the team and everything else. I think that’s a fair assessment. We all should be evaluated. Whether because he’s saying it now, is it because of the situation? Maybe. I don’t know, that’s up to Charlie to answer that. I’m OK with that statement.”
Puck Prose
A lot of fans have been unhappy with how a team with so many Stanley Cup winners on it could be doing so poorly in the standings. A lot of people have focused their ire on the Bruins bench boss, and the B’s general manager Peter Chiarelli.
“We made the playoffs seven years in a row with a lot of this group and this coaching staff, so at the same time, you look at the situation and you say what is the real issue and how do we deal with it, and that’s going to be up to them,” continued Julien (who had received a contract extension himself earlier in the season). “So I have no issues. My job is always under evaluation, and I evaluate myself. I evaluate my coaches as well, I evaluate the players as well. I do that also. So I don’t know, maybe for you guys it’s a big statement — for me, it’s not.”
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle was relieved of his duties earlier today. I’m sure that only helped to prove the point Jacobs was making. No one’s job is safe right now in Boston (OK, maybe Cam Neely is safe). The new CEO is willing to step in and make things happen.
Could Julien follow Carlyle into unemployment? It’s possible, but unlikely at the moment. The Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup win does give Julien an extra layer of job security. As long as Julien can get this team inspired and motivated to win, the Bruins can get back into the playoffs(and Julien will stay behind the B’s bench).
“Nobody likes to lose,” said Julien after the press conference. “The urgency that you’re alluding to, I’d be disappointed if we didn’t have that same urgency before even he said that. That would be a knock on our group. There is some urgency even if not everybody believes it. My job in the last couple days has been to get the guys to relax a little bit and not get so tense. Hopefully these comments don’t make it any worse. This is what we’ve got to deal with. I’ve got enough experience in this league to take this group of players and make them feel comfortable and understand that they’re capable of turning this around. I believe in this group, I really do.”