Monday marked day one of the annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, which routinely brings along donations and radio appearances from other professional teams from around the city.
On behalf of the Bruins, CEO Charlie Jacobs stopped by WEEI Afternoons, where he graciously donated $25,000 on behalf of the team towards striking out cancer.
In addition to singing the praises of all the important work being done by the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Jacobs shared some optimism as it relates to his hockey team heading into the 2025-26 regular season.
Yes, that same hockey team that went 32-39-10 last season, good for last place in the Atlantic Division – their first time missing the playoffs in nine years.
But on the strength of his new head coach Marco Sturm, Jacobs believes both fans and media are in for a pleasant surprise once the regular season gets underway.
Here’s part of Jacobs’ exchange with WEEI’s Andy Hart and Nick “Fitzy” Stevens from Monday:
Andy Hart: “So obviously, a big offseason for the Bruins. We’re kind of ahead of the curve – we’re looking at Mike Vrabel and the Patriots and a new culture and a new coach. Is it safe to say you’re looking to kind of do that same thing, grab some buzz with a new culture and a new coach?”
Charlie Jacobs: “Yeah – we certainly did do a lot, certainly since last year’s trade deadline in terms of player personnel on the ice and head coaching. So, yeah – I think there’s a lot of new faces. There’s a lot of new energy. And frankly, we needed to change the energy from last year. We owed our fan base a lot more than what we showed last year, and it was time for us to roll up our sleeves and get to work on a remake, frankly. And I think that you’ll see that in October.”
Nick “Fitzy” Stevens: “So how’s the Sturm Era going so far, and what should fans look forward to or expect from this next generation of the Bruins?”
CJ: “So Marco is incredible. He’s quite a communicator, and he’s a passionate communicator. And he has the experience of playing under a lot of very system oriented coaches while he was a player. And he will tell you about his journey to why he’s here today as a National Hockey League head coach. He knew, or at least he had a pretty good idea of what it was going to take for him to skill-up enough to be able to step on that bench and lead a team on that National Hockey League level. And it’s quite a journey, and it’s quite a story. And I think he’s going to be – I think all of us will be pleasantly surprised by what we see on the ice.”
AH: “I know there’s been a lot of discussion as to what this is being called, or how to describe – is it a retool, a rebuild, a tear down, and different things. When I look at it from afar, I look at a team that has one of the best scorers in hockey, has a young goalie that I think people want to believe is a franchise goalie, a great defenseman – that there’s sort of this core of veteran talent that has the capability of maybe turning things around quickly. Is that what we’re looking for?”
CJ: “I don’t want to get caught up in semantics, which is maybe why I stuttered for a second when I said – you know, people like to say, ‘Oh, it’s a rebuild, Bruins are in a rebuild.’ Well, I would argue that we have one of the best wings in hockey, like you already mentioned. I think we have two of the better, if not the best, top 10 defensemen in the National Hockey League in Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm -”
NS: “How is Lindholm doing, by the way?
CJ: “He’s great. He’s cleared to play, and skating. And then we also have a potential franchise goalie in [Jeremy Swayman]. So you know – listen, we need help. No question. We went out and shopped a bit, but we have younger kids coming in that are going to need some help. They’re going to need some bigger bodies to help protect them on the ice. Because Lord knows no matter whether you’re 18, 19, or 20 or even 21, no matter how big or strong you are, you’re playing a man’s game, and it’s a little different then maybe you would see in a national development program or World Juniors or even in college.
“The National Hockey League’s a different animal, especially when you’re talking about 80 games. So we went out and addressed what we thought would be a shortcoming of something that we really needed this offseason on July 1 in free agency shopping. And we want these kids to develop and go from there. But I think we’re going to have a very good team come October, and we owe Boston that.”
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