Now that the Boston Bruins' 2024-25 season is over, it’s time to turn the attention to the off-season, which is a rather big one for management. After a 33-39-10 season that sees them in the basement of the Eastern Conference and being sellers at the trade deadline, there is a lot of work to be done.
There was a report earlier this week from Greg Hill at WEEI that there was going to be a resignation in the Bruins front office on Wednesday. It appears that is not going to happen, and the Bruins released a statement about the disappointing season. In that statement, CEO Charlie Jacobs said that they are already hard at work planning out next year.
If you read between the lines, he’s telling you that Sweeney and Neely are safe with their jobs and will get the off-season to turn things around with the roster for the 2025-26 season. Are you surprised? Well, in an interview with Jim McBride of the Boston Globe, Jacobs had a comment that was rather tone deaf when it comes to Sweeney and Neely.
Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs has a tone-deaf take on Don Sweeney and Cam Neely
In an interview with McBride, Jacobs questioned why fans want Sweeney and Neely fired. No, seriously, he did. It makes you wonder what is actually the actual thinking is in upper management as this retool goes forward. Here is what Jacobs had to say,
"It’s hard for me to wrap my head around why people call for (Cam Neely and Don Sweeney’s) heads,’’ Jacobs said.
Oh, where do we begin? This might be the biggest tone-deaf take to come out in a long, long time. It is not that hard to wrap someone’s head around why the fans feel the way they do. It began with the botched 2015 Entry Draft with three consecutive first-round picks.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, how about the poor roster construction and roster management? They overvalued Elias Lindholm this summer as a top center, something he’s not, and gave him a contract with an AAV of $7.75 million. How about waiting two years to address the dire need that is for a top-line center after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci? That hasn’t gone too well.
I think Jacobs knows enough that the fans are his biggest supporters in terms of buying tickets, selling concessions, and if they’re going to shell out their hard-earned money, then they should be allowed to voice their opinion. Drafting, free agent signings, whatever, you name it, fans are not happy, and Jacobs not being able to wrap his head around why fans want Sweeney and Neeley fired is about as tone-deaf as it comes.
Look, I get it, Jacobs wants to protect his two main guys that make decisions in the front office, but at least don't do it with a tone-deaf take. That's all fans ask.