Mitchell Miller is getting a second chance at potentially playing in the NHL, as the Bruins announced on Friday that they signed the former Coyotes draft pick to an AHL contract.
Miller came into the spotlight around the 2020 NHL Draft, and for all the wrong reasons. The fourth-round selection by Arizona had his draft rights revoked after a sickening story came out that Miller bullied a Black classmate named Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, who has developmental disabilities, four years prior to draft day. It was reported that Miller abused Meyer-Crothers for years, including racial slurs, physical bullying and forcing the victim to lick a lollipop that had been rubbed inside a urinal.
“When I was in eighth grade, I made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely,” Miller said in the team’s press release. “I bullied one of my classmates. I deeply regret the incident and have apologized to the individual. Since the incident, I have come to better understand the far-reaching consequences of my actions that I failed to recognize and understand nearly seven years ago. I strive to be a better person and positively contribute to society. As a member of the Bruins organization, I will continue to participate in community programs to both educate myself and share my mistakes with others to show what a negative impact those actions can have on others.
“To be clear, what I did when I was 14 years old was wrong and unacceptable. There is no place in this world for being disrespectful to others and I pledge to use this opportunity to speak out against mistreating others.”
Miller was considered to be a strong NHL prospect, having committed to the University of North Dakota to play college hockey. After the news of his previous bullying history was revealed, the college cut ties with him and he was released from the Tri-City Storm, the USHL team he was playing on at the time of the draft.
Whether or not Miller apologized to Meyer-Crothers and his family after the incident is still in question. The victim’s mother, Joni, had a letter published by The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline after the draft, stating that Miller never apologized.
In the Bruins’ statement, Miller said he has since expressed his remorse for what happened when he was in eighth grade. However, there is some skepticism that this is in fact true. Meyer-Crothers mother told The Pipeline Show’s Guy Flaming in June of this summer that her son only received a court-ordered statement from Miller, not an apology.
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Flaming reached out again after the news from the Bruins, stating that while Miller tried to message her son over Instagram and that “he was sorry and had nothing to do with hockey.”
Miller re-joined Tri-City last season after sitting out the entire 2020-21 season, earning USHL Player of the Year and Defenseman of the Year honors after posting 83 points in 60 games.
Why did the Bruins sign Mitchell Miller?
In the statement released by the team on Friday, Boston president Cam Neely described how the team’s hockey operations and community relations group met with Miller for “weeks” getting to know him better as an individual and evaluating his accountability for his prior mistakes.
“During this evaluation period, Mitchell was accountable for his unacceptable behavior and demonstrated his commitment to work with multiple organizations and professionals to further his education and use his mistake as a teachable moment for others,” Neely said in the statement. “The expectation is that he will continue this important educational work with personal development and community programs as a member of the Bruins organization.”
It was after this process that the Bruins felt he was ready for another chance to play professional hockey, signing him to an AHL contract. He will report to the Providence Bruins.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney met with the media after the signing was announced, and made it clear that Miller was going to have to “earn the right” to play in the league.
“I am not going to downplay that this has been a personal and professional struggle,” Sweeney said. “Mitchell’s paid a punishment, and he’s going to continue to carry that for the rest of his life. We’re going to hold him to a standard.”
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One of the more puzzling decisions by the Bruins was not to reach out to the victim or his family, which Sweeney confirmed on Friday. Instead, the team ensured that Mitchell reached out to the Meyer-Crothers family, an act that Sweeney called “imperative.”
Another confusing part from Sweeney was that he admitted that the decision to sign Miller “could be wrong” and that “it invited a lot of negativity that we didn’t need or want.” He also added he’s not sure he’d be able to forgive Miller if it was his kid that was the victim of the player’s bullying.
Sweeney is absolutely right that it brings about negative attention to the Bruins. Instead of fans discussing how the team is out to its best start in franchise history, the focus now shifts to the Miller signing, which has already come with quite the backlash online from hockey fans.
