BOSTON -- Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs believes strongly in educating young athletes to become upstanding members of society.

After participating in the annual "State of the Bruins" on Thursday night at TD Garden, Jacobs, who is also the chairman of the NHL board of governors, was asked how he views the image of the NHL and its players in light of recent controversies that have cropped up in the NFL.

"Professional ownership, professional sports teams have a higher, moral commitment to the community than the average business and I feel that strongly and I believe we have to conduct ourselves differently than the average individual," Jacobs said. "We don't have the privilege to do certain things and I think that's the capacity, I believe, my commissioner believes in and I think that's the way our teams feel.

"There are many obstacles in our way, a lot of human rights issues and legal issues that get in the way of doing that, but we have to recognize that when we go out there we represent, not only our team and our ownership, but our fans and the community we represent. And once we can penetrate the people out there, bear in mind we're taking a lot of young people and putting that responsibility on them and it's incumbent upon us to be able to educate them and how to function. We take it real seriously and I can't get a whole lot deeper than that, but you've got my personal view."

Jacobs is the CEO and chairman of Delaware North Companies. He's been the chairman of the board of the NHL since 2007.