Boston Bruins: Jeremy Jacobs and Mark Recchi to join Hockey Hall of Fame
Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and former player Mark Recchi have received the call of a lifetime. They’ll both be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame!
Boston Bruins fans may not like it, but owner Jeremy Jacobs is going to become a Hockey Hall of Famer.
Jacobs will go in as a “builder” which according to the HOF honors those who contribute by “coaching, managerial or executive ability, or ability in another significant off-ice role, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to his or her organization or organizations and to the game of hockey in general.”
Jeremy Jacobs has owned the Boston Bruins since 1975, but he has not had a great relationship with fans. To him, hockey is only a business. He was usually cheap and not willing to pay players, and Bruins fans always hate it when he does show up in the city. In his time with the Bruins he’s delivered a team that has won one Stanley Cup, so he’s no Tom Werner or Robert Kraft. Still, he’ll take his place in the Hall of Fame. It’s just hard for Bruins fans to care.
We all love Recchi
Mark Recchi spent time with a bunch of NHL clubs over the course of his career, but we certainly loved being his last team here in Boston. Now, we get to celebrate Recchi as a Hockey Hall of Fame member.
Recchi played in the league for 22 years, with a little over two years spent in Boston. Over parts of three seasons he served as an assistant captain and as a veteran presence for a number of young Bruins including Brad Marchand. Recchi had 107 points in 180 games with Boston while raising the Stanley Cup in 2011, his final NHL season.
In those 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs Recchi notched 14 points with 5 goals and 9 assists in 25 games. That championship was his third, as Recchi won it all in 1991 with the Pittsburgh Penguins and in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes.
In his career Mark Recchi tallied 1,533 points, with 956 of those coming as an assist. He was the type of player that made those around him better. That alone should makes him a Hall of Famer, but he brought so much leadership and character off the ice as well.
Recchi is now the Pittsburgh Penguins director of player development, and he detailed what his Hall of Fame call was like to NHL.com.
"More from Chowder and Champions3 Midseason Chaim Bloom Decisions That Have Killed the 2023 Red Sox10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster DeadlineMLB Screws Red Sox Fans With Broadcast for Mookie Betts Return3 Most Underpaid Celtics Heading Into the 2023 SeasonRed Sox Continue Rollercoaster Season With Massive Win“I was at the Penguins practice rink (in Cranberry, Pennsylvania), going over free agency and what we’re planning on doing going forward,” Recchi said. “As soon as I saw the 416 (Toronto area code) on my phone, I jumped out of the room. I went back into this big meeting, sat down and totally didn’t hear anything that went on for the next five minutes. My dad was at the rink, so the timing couldn’t have been any better. I went out, grabbed him and gave him a big hug, called my wife, who was with my mother, then went upstairs to tell [Penguins general manager] Jimmy Rutherford and [hockey operations vice president] Jason Karmanos. The whole thing was just surreal.”"
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Recchi is a player that Boston Bruins fans loved and supported even though he was here just a short time. It’s crazy that more fans are likely to show up in Toronto to support his time as a Bruins player than to support owner Jeremy Jacobs..