from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The election and induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday of Bruins’ owner Jeremy Jacobs calls into question the independence of the 19-member selection committee that does its business in sworn secrecy.

Why Jacobs? The committee members can’t say, not even the four members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association who participate on the panel under the pledge of confidentiality. That seems a little bit too inside for my liking — creating news but self-censored from analyzing it — but then, that’s the view from the outside, isn’t it?

Jacobs is the man who has been the voice behind the voice of Gary Bettman for each of the three owners’ lockouts. Clawing back oodles of money for the owners is his claim to fame. This is also the man whose penurious ways forced Raymond Bourque to flee Boston in search of a Stanley Cup, never mind the irony of No. 77 himself having parroted management’s stance for years when his Bruins teammates sought higher pay.

The fingerprints of the commissioner and his lieutenants on the committee are all over this one.

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