Boston Bruins have rescinded their contract with Mitchell Miller after the NHL deemed him ineligible to join team due to a bullying incident.
Mitchell Miller : Contract | Controversy | What did say
Miller had committed to play for the Miami University men’s ice hockey team and was expected to join the Red Hawks for the 2019–20 season.
However, he de-committed, and opted to spend the 2019–20 season playing for Tri-City, where he finished the season with 33 points.
He also earned an all-USHL first team selection, an honor bestowed on the best players in the league as determined by the votes of the league’s general managers.
He was once again called up to the United States junior team for the 2019 World Junior A Challenge where he had two goals and four assists in six games.
In May 2020, Miller committed to play for the University of North Dakota men’s ice hockey team.
Mitchell Miller Contract
The Boston Bruins have rescinded their contract with Mitchell Miller after the National Hockey League deemed him ineligible to join the team due to a bullying incident the player participated in when he was a young teenager.
The decision, announced Sunday, is effective immediately, just days after the Bruins on Friday signed Miller to an entry-level contract.
The about-face comes after the revelation of new information apparently related to bullying, which at some point led to serious consequences when the player was in school.
Miller at 14 was convicted in a bullying incident where he and another teenager were accused of tricking their Black classmate Isaiah Meyers-Crothers into eating candy that had been placed in a urinal, a report from the Arizona Republic revealed.
Miller and another teen admitted to the bullying in an Ohio juvenile court and were sentenced to community service, according to the Republic.
In explaining the decision to sign the now 20-year-old Miller in the first place, Boston Bruins president Cam Neely said the team had carefully considered the facts as it was aware of them, “that at 14-years-old he made a poor decision that led to a juvenile conviction.”
“We understood this to be an isolated incident and that he had taken meaningful action to reform and was committed to ongoing personal development. Based on that understanding we offered him a contract,” Neely said.
After new information came to light, the team decided it was in its best interest to rescind the opportunity. The team’s statement did not detail that information.
Mitchell Miller Controversy
Boston Bruins parted ways Sunday with Mitchell Miller, the controversial defenseman they had signed to an entry-level contract on Friday, and issued a public apology to the victim of his bullying.
Mitchell Miller, who was cut by two teams last fall after an earlier conviction for bullying was reported, has landed with a new team.
The United States Hockey League’s Tri-City Storm announced Wednesday that they are bringing back the defenseman, who played for them in 2019-20.
Miller was taken in the fourth round of the 2020 round by the Arizona Coyotes. The Arizona Republic later reported that Miller four years earlier, at age 14, had admitted in an Ohio juvenile court to bullying a Black classmate who had developmental disabilities.
The classmate, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, was tricked into licking a candy push pop that Miller and another boy had wiped in a bathroom urinal. Meyer-Crothers also told the newspaper that Miller had used racial slurs around him.
Soon after, the Coyotes renounced their rights to him and the University of North Dakota dismissed him. Miller didn’t play hockey last season.
The Storm said they decided, “after careful consideration,” to add Miller to the roster.
“We know Mitchell very well and we are convinced what happened when he was 14 isn’t indicative of his character or who he is now as a 19-year-old young man,” Anthony Noreen, the Storm’s head coach and president of hockey operations, said in a statement.
What did say
On Friday, Miller issued a statement through the Bruins that prominently mentioned his troubled history. “When I was in eighth grade, I made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely,” he said. “I bullied one of my classmates. I deeply regret the incident and have apologized to the individual.”
Boston opting to sign Miller did not go over well with players, from captain Patrice Bergeron down. Bergeron said he was consulted about the possibility and was “on the fence.”
“The culture that we built here goes against that type of behaviour,” Bergeron said. “In this locker room, we’re all about inclusion, diversity, respect.”
The Coyotes picked Miller in the fourth round of the 2020 draft despite knowing of his 2016 assault conviction. The team parted ways with Miller amid criticism after learning more about the bullying.
The University of North Dakota announced a day later Miller was no longer with the school’s hockey team.