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Jacobs: ‘We hired (Chiarelli) for the rest of his professional career’

 05.27.09 at 11:46 am ET
By Joe Haggerty

The Bruins father-and-son ownership tandem of Jeremy and Charlie Jacobs just finished up a Wednesday morning conference call with reporters, and here are the highlights:

Charlie expressed hope that “it could have been done at this point” but the Jacobs’ still expect a contract extension to be completed with Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli this summer. Chiarelli is heading into the final year of a four-year deal that he signed in May 2006, and has certainly earned a significant raise in pay while leading the B’s hockey team out of a post-lockout haze.

The Jacobs’ indicated that both Chiarelli and Bruins Vice-President Cam Neely were among a contingent of B’s brass currently in Toronto at the NHL scouting combine prior to next month’s draft in Montreal. Both executives are interviewing potential draft candidates during the event, and Jacobs hasn’t talked face-to-face with Chiarelli about a deal in “about a week”.

“We want to see him around long term and we think that’s his objective as well,” said Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs. “When we hired Peter, we didn’t hire him for 4 years. We hired him for the rest of his professional career and it needs to be looked at that way. That’s been our style before. Peter has grown immensely in the last few years and he’s done an admirable job.

“We’ve seen the stops and starts, but he’s been on an upward trend.”

The ownership duo also reaffirmed that it will be up to Chiarelli to award Claude Julien and his coaching staff with contract extensions after what Charlie termed a “Jack Adams worthy season for the entire coaching staff”.

–Jeremy Jacobs also all but announced that the NHL Winter Classic will be held at Fenway Park on Jan. 1, 2010, but said that it’s ultimately an official announcement for the NHL. Basically, it’s up to the league to make the final call. Sources confirmed to WEEI.com months ago that the game would be at Fenway Park, and several reports have the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers as the two prospective teams challenging the Black and Gold on New Year’s Day.

Jacobs couldn’t contain his excitement when discussion moved to the sure-to-be event of the winter season in Boston next year.

“The Winter Classic is owned by the league and it’s their production, and therefore it is theirs to announce. I have to say that everything I’ve seen acts like, looks like, smells like it’s gonna be in Boston,” said Jacobs. “I don’t know anybody else that’s gone through the search and process that they’ve gone through. Traditionally the league announces (the Winter Classic) in July. From everything we can tell, it’s going to be the biggest classic ever.

“First of all I really want this in Boston. I think our fans want it and I think our environment wants it. I think it’ll be the biggest Winter Classic that they’ve ever had and I think it will be the most successful and most demanded. I also know that we’ll only be able to accommodate our season ticket holders at that point. So there’s going to be tremendous demand for tickets from corporate sponsors. I think it’s going to be a barnburner. I think it’s going to be tremendous if it happens. When they announce it sometime in July and when you see the rink going up at Fenway, then you can conclude that it’s going to happen.”

–Father and son both deemed the season a success despite a “bittersweet ending” to the campaign in Game 7 against the Carolina Hurricanes, and handed out a vote of confidence to the management, coaching staff and players currently dotting the organization’s roster.

“I was extremely proud of the management. I was extremely proud of the coaching. I don’t think anything was wanting in that group. They know that they have something to build on for next year, and they feel — as I feel — that they have an organization that can move forward and play a role in the Finals of the National Hockey League,” said Jacobs. “I hope and I believe that this was a growing experience for some of them. The expectations at the Stanley Cup level are obviously much higher than they are during the regular season.

“I think they are up for doing it. With all of the accolades that they got, I think that they felt they underachieved at the very end. I’m really proud. They had a great year and I’m awfully happy with what they got done.”

–Jacobs also opined that he didn’t think the salary cap was going to move significantly for the 2009-10 season, but that doesn’t seem to rule out a drop of $1-2 million within the cap for next season.

Read More: Charlie Jacobs, Jeremy Jacobs, Peter Chjiarelli, Print  |  Email   | Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • http://www.loge19.com Loge19.com

    I think the 2009 draft is at the Bell Center in Montreal?

  • http://bigbadblog.weei.com Joe Haggerty

    Draft is in Montreal next month, NHL rookie combine (which is happening this week) is taking place in Toronto. That’s where Chiarelli and Co. are. It’s also Bell Centre rather than Bell Center in respect to our French-Canadian friends, s’il vous plait.

    –Haggs

  • http://www.loge19.com Loge19.com

    touche on the Bell Centre.

    I was referring to the third paragraph: “…prior to next month’s draft in Toronto.”

    Only noticed it because a few of us from Loge19 are thinking about using the Draft as an excuse to head up to Montreal for the weekend. Any idea how tough getting tickets is going to be?

  • Miranda

    JJ wants Chiarelli “for the rest of his professional career”?

    How about Chiarelli proving himself first!

  • shane

    Proving himself 1st? wow you must not watch the games. When he took over the Bruins were pitiful, with no young talent and terrible veteran contracts. Now were stocked piled with potential stars under the age of 23, and we finished 1st in the conference after being the worst team in the confernece just 2 short years ago. Hes proved himself to me, its just time to take the next step next year, hopefully they can make it to the conference finals

  • Miranda

    He’s been good – but he HAS NOT proven himself. Have the B’s won anything to warrant signing him to a “lifetime” contract?

    He’s made some very bad executive decisions.
    1. Letting Chris Verteeg go to Chicago.
    2. Signing Steve Montador when other quality puck moving defensemen were available at the deadline.
    3. Signing Thomas to an exorbitant contract that may affect retaining that youth you refer to (incl. Rask). So, yes, he has to prove himself.

  • http://redsarmy.com bigmck

    Clicked on Felger’s mailbag and was directed to this blog. What a shock. Weei.com is still a joke. Quite frankly, it’s an embarrassment.

  • Miranda

    bigmck,

    Go back to whining over your losing Celtics!

  • jingles

    I agree with Miranda – Chiarelli has done a good job but unless you call anything other than a Cup a success, he hasn’t proven to me either that he’s worthy of a so-called lifetime contract. He’s on the right track but not 100% there yet. No GM in major league sports is deserving of a lifetime contract – that’s Jacobs talking through his a*s.

  • http://bigbadblog.weei.com Joe Haggerty

    I don’t think Jacobs wants to sign Chiarelli to a lifetime deal…I just think that’s his way of saying that they don’t want him to go anywhere else and they full expect to keep around for a long stretch of time. Whether it’s feasible that a GM could have a Sinden-esque run in the front office in this day and age of the NHL, that is an arguable point.

    I took Jacobs’ comments to be a sign they’ll be take care of PC at some point this summer. I think he’s proven that he deserves another contract and should be paid like some of the upper level GMs in the game, but he shouldn’t be paid like the top tier GMs until the Bruins win a Cup.

    Chiarelli’s record isn’t spotless (and it shouldn’t be if the job is being done correctly), but he’s done a very good job over the last three years.

    Not sure about tix to the draft in Montreal Loge19, I’ll see if I can talk to some of my NHL people and get an answer for you. There’s always some question in hockey-crazed Montreal as to the availability of tickets for any Habs events.

    –Haggs

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