Arizona Coyotes Let Go of Draftee Convicted in Bullying Case

The Arizona Coyotes said on Thursday that they had renounced the rights to their top pick in this year’s N.H.L. draft after a published report described the player’s 2016 conviction in a juvenile-court case related to bullying of a Black classmate who has a developmental disability.

The Coyotes said they knew about the abusive history when they drafted the player, Mitchell Miller, an 18-year-old defenseman, in the fourth round, according to the report in The Arizona Republic, Miller, who is now a free agent, provided all 31 N.H.L. teams with a letter before the draft, saying he regretted what he had done and providing character references.

The revelation about the bullying case and the Coyotes’ decision followed a season in which the N.H.L., a mostly white league, was forced to confront several acts of bigotry. It also has cost Miller, a freshman, his place on the University of North Dakota’s hockey team. On Friday, North Dakota’s president announced that Miller would no longer be allowed to play for the team, though he will be allowed to remain a student at the university.

“In junior high, I got beat up by him,” Miller’s victim, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, told The Republic. “Everyone thinks he’s so cool that he gets to go to the N.H.L., but I don’t see how someone can be cool when you pick on someone and bully someone your entire life.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/sports/hockey/coyotes-renounce-rights-to-mitchell-miller.html