In signing Mitchell Miller, Bruins ‘failed,’ president says. Here’s what we know about situation.
cut ties with Miller late Sunday night, 48 hours after signing him, and Neely said during a Monday morning news conference that the Bruins “failed” in their vetting process.
He apologized to fans and the family of Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, a developmentally disabled Black classmate Miller physically and racially abused as a teen.
Neely admitted the team never contacted the Meyer-Crothers family before signing him Friday and that omission by the team’s hockey operations department “was concerning.”
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Sweeney said Miller had apologized to Meyer-Crothers for what the player termed a “mistake” in Friday’s statement, but Meyer-Crothers’ mother, Joni, told WBZ that Miller bullied her son for years and the player reached out only last week via Instagram.
“I take a lot of pride in what we stand for as an organization, and we failed there,” Neely said before adding he planned to speak with the Meyer-Crothers family.
Why did the Bruins sign Mitchell Miller?
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Friday he had been working on signing Miller for “almost a year.”
Miller, a highly touted prospect out of high school, was a free agent after the Arizona Coyotes renounced his 2020 draft rights after selecting him in the fourth round. A right-handed defenseman, Miller posted 83 points in 60 games with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm last season.
Upon signing him, the Bruins immediately assigned him to their AHL affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island.
Scouts relayed to the Bruins that Miller had changed since the incident, according to Neely, who said he was made aware of the Bruins’ negotiations with Miller and his agent in August.
“From everything I heard he was working on himself, working in programs to better himself,” Neely said. “I was under the impression it was a 14-year-old kid who made a really, really bad decision and did some horrible things. He’s 20 years old now, so I was under the impression the last six years he had done a lot of work on himself.”
would be currently ineligible to play and may not ever gain NHL eligibility.
Bettman called Miller’s actions “reprehensible, unacceptable” Saturday during the 2022 NHL Global Series in Finland.
The NHL Players’ Association told ESPN were not made aware of any active or pending disciplinary action against Miller and questioned why he was being denied eligibility.
As for his AHL eligibility, Bettman said that was outside his purview.
Why did the Bruins cut Mitchell Miller?
The team faced intense backlash following the signing, from the league, players, fans and media.
Neely acknowledged the role reaction had on the decision to part ways with Miller just two days after signing him.
Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron and forward Nick Foligno were among those who expressed reluctance and displeasure with the move. Bergeron said Saturday he “didn’t necessarily agree” with the decision when approached by Sweeney the previous week.
Neely said he “probably would have been upset as well.” Neely played 13 seasons in the NHL – 10 with Boston.
Neely declined to answer whether Miller’s camp misrepresented itself during the evaluation process the Bruins engaged in prior to signing. Miller’s agent, Eustace King, posted a statement to Twitter Sunday defending the player and listing numerous community programs with which Miller was “committed” to working.
However, one of those programs, The Carnegie Initiative, posted its own statement in response saying it had met with King but “found it best to move on” and for Miller to “not pursue engaging the CI.” It posted a clarification Monday saying, “We mutually agreed that Mitchell’s best path forward was to be vocal and own what he had done, followed by him finding his voice to speak loudly as a change agent in hockey.”
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Neely also declined to answer what sort of financial restitution might be owed Miller considering the two sides had signed a contract.