Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs: 'We're a .500 club right now'

BOSTON — Before the start of the 2024-25 season, Boston Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs was looking forward to seeing the roster president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney had built.

“There’s a lot of excitement around this team,” Jacobs said on Sept. 30. “I’ve thought personally and I’ll share this openly — I feel Don and Cam have done an excellent job this offseason in acquiring some great talent, some very exciting players.”

Twenty-five games later, the Bruins are 11-11-3 and fourth in the Atlantic Division. They have fired coach Jim Montgomery. Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov, their primary offseason signings, are improving but have yet to reach their thresholds. They are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose minus-32 goal differential is the worst in the league.

“We’re a .500 club right now,” Jacobs said on Saturday ahead of the Bruins’ centennial game on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens. “I think we’ve yet to play our best game.”

The Bruins are 3-2-0 under interim coach Joe Sacco. Jeremy Swayman, who missed all of training camp before signing an eight-year, $66 million contract, has a .943 save percentage in his three starts following Montgomery’s dismissal. Swayman has an .892 save percentage over 17 appearances.

Meanwhile, David Pastrnak is stuck in a seven-game goal-scoring drought for the second time this season. The Bruins have scored on 12 percent of their power plays, second-lowest in the league.

“Being a captain and a player of this historic team means embracing what it means to wear the spoked B,” Brad Marchand said during a Saturday speech unveiling the franchise’s centennial bear statue next to TD Garden. “It means playing with that same spirit every night. Showing up in the toughest moments and leading by example, especially when times are tough.”

“Tomorrow, it will officially be a year,” Jacobs said of the organization’s centennial celebration. “It’s going to be something. I sure hope we can put our best foot forward tomorrow afternoon when we play the Habs. Let’s get another ‘W’ in the books. We need it.”