Boston Bruins News: B’s Owner Jeremy Jacobs Releases Statement
Boston Bruins fans were surprised (or amused) by the termination of Peter Chiarelli earlier today. Chiarelli had been with the Bruins for nine seasons and was the presiding general manager over the Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup Championship. During his tenure, the outgoing GM had a record of 386-233-85. The Bruins exceeded 100 points in four of those seasons, and had a seven year post-season streak.
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While Charlie Jacobs has taken over the day-to-day operations of Delaware North, his father Jeremy is still the owner of the organization. After the press conference had been concluded at the TD Garden, the Bruins owner released a statement over Chiarelli’s termination.
“Peter Chiarelli has done a tremendous job for the Boston Bruins over the last nine seasons. During that time I have come to know, and like him, both professionally and personally. This decision was not an easy one for Cam and Charlie but, ultimately, the right one for this organization. They have my full support in this decision. I know Peter will move on and continue to do great things in the league and I would give him my highest recommendation.”
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Nothing like getting the ‘highest recommendation’ after getting kicked to the curb a few hours earlier.
“We are grateful for Peter’s service to the Bruins organization over the last nine seasons,” said Bruins President Cam Neely of Chiarelli’s service. “His efforts undoubtedly helped the team achieve great success during his tenure and he helped restore the proud tradition of Boston Bruins hockey. We ultimately feel that this change is necessary in order to ensure sustainable success for the club both in the short term and the long term. Our search for a new General Manager will begin immediately.”
For the moment, all hockey operations are being run out of Neely’s office while the search begins for Chiarelli’s replacement.
A lot of fans have argued that this a knee-jerk response to a single bad season. They argued that a lot of fault should lie with the players and a few more of them (like Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell) should not be re-signed for next season.
Chiarelli’s termination has a lot more to do than a single bad year. It’s a series of events that led up to the Bruins sub-par season. The Bruins gave up two offensive firebrands because they wouldn’t fit into the Bruins defensive-minded paradigm. Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin are two of the fastest skaters in the league, and both are capable of putting up serious points for the new teams.
Chiarelli’s trades were also a point of contention for many of the fans (and likely the front office). Chiarelli damned the organization by trading away Johnny Boychuk to the New York Islanders before the first game of the season. This was a disaster only made worse by the injuries to other defensemen. While Brett Connolly might pan out as a good idea down the road, the Bruins lost too much and didn’t get enough of a return on the limited trades they made this season.
For all his faults in the trade department, he did finally end the Jordan Caron experiment in Boston.