Jeremy Jacobs is one of the owners driving the NHL lockout. (U.S. Presswire)

The NHL lockout, already into its 74th day as of Wednesday, has been an ugly mess that seems to get worse by the day with no end in sight.

People are angry -- some fans are even calling for boycotts when the games return -- and the most common targets, from both players and fans, are the two men at the top of each side in the fight: NHLPA leader Donald Fehr and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, currently residing over his third lockout in 18 years.

While players consistently take out their frustration on Bettman (like this; or this), few point the finger at the owners of their respective teams (probably because they're the guys signing their multi-million-dollar checks). Ryan Suter, who just signed a 13-year contract in free agency with the Minnesota Wild this past summer, was one of those exceptions but quickly backtracked on his comments.

As Joe Haggerty of CSNNE writes on Wednesday, and it's definitely worth a read, people like Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs need to be taking more of the blame -- especially from the people who pack the arenas and support their teams -- and cites at least one rather stunning example as to how Jacobs is one of the people most responsible for the NHL being in this position yet again.

And it's the same position the league is in every time a CBA expires.

Haggerty writes that, at a recent Board Of Governors meeting, one of the Winnipeg Jets representatives stepped up and said their organization was opposed to a lengthy work stoppage because it would hurt the growth of their franchise and the game of hockey in general. That seems like a perfectly reasonable position for a team to take, especially when it's a team that just played its first season in a new city to a packed house in a hockey-mad city every night.

And how did Jacobs respond to that suggestion?

From Haggerty:

Bruins Principal Owner and Chairman of the Board of Governors Jeremy Jacobs answered by reprimanding the Winnipeg representative as one of the “new kids on the block” and informed him that he would know when he was allowed to speak in the NHL board room.

That’s the kind of hawkish, bully mentality that's driving the bus through the NHL lockout that has now cancelled games through the middle of December.

It’s also the reason why Bruins fans should hold Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs personally responsible.

For what it's worth, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly tells Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press that incident never happened. The Jets  owner, Mark Chipman, also denied that it took place, releasing the following statement on Wednesday night, via CSNNE:

“I was disappointed to learn today of a report which claimed an exchange took place between an Alternate Governor of the Winnipeg Jets and Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins at a recent NHL Board of Governors meeting. I was present throughout all BOG proceedings and can categorically state that no such exchange between Mr. Jacobs and either one of our Alternate Governors – Patrick Phillips or Kevin Cheveldayoff – ever took place. Any suggestion otherwise is completely false.”

But honestly, what else is the NHL going to say at this point? Move along, nothing to see here is basically all it can do.

From the very beginning of the lockout, Jacobs and the Bruins were viewed as one of the "hardline" teams that were prepared to do whatever it took to get the deal they wanted from the NHLPA. Stories like that only seem to confirm it.

But as Haggerty also points out, the Bruins are a team that has a ton of money invested in players over the next few years. They were one of the teams that went on a spending spree in the weeks and months leading up to the lockout, when anyone with an ounce of common sense knew the NHL would be in the same position it was in 1994-95 and 2004-05 -- with the doors locked and hockey losing even more of the relevance that it has left.

It also makes Jacobs' stance even more confusing.

The biggest question of the lockout is, why would a frugal, shrewd businessman like Jacobs seemingly do his own team a disservice by prolonging the lockout? The Bruins have the most money committed in player salaries over the next two seasons, and would be severely affected by a sudden drop in the salary cap. Even if NHL teams are given a one-year transition period to adjust to a plummeting salary cap, the Bruins will be bumping the cap ceiling in 2013-14 without a single proven NHL goaltender signed on for duty.

According to CapGeek, the Bruins have more than $57 million committed to just 16 players for the 2013-14 season, and 13 players signed for $45 million for the 2014-15 season. The Bruins signed players like Milan Lucic, Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand to long-term contracts just before the old collective bargaining agreement expired.

Federal mediators are joining the negotiations on Wednesday, though it remains unclear what impact -- if any -- they will have on the process.

The NHL has another Board Of Governors meeting scheduled for Dec. 5, which might be the next time we see any sort of significant offer or progress from the league.