In Boston, the Bruins finally got the message after a weekend of outrage, backlash, and ridicule.
On Friday, the Bruins signed 20-year old prospect defenseman, Mitchell Miller, to an entry-level contract.
Miller had been drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. The Arizona Republic reported shortly after the draft that Miller had been criminally charged with assault and a violation of the Ohio Safe Schools Act as a teenager.
Without the lurid and disgusting details, Miller had been charged, and admitted to in court, the abuse of a special needs student in Sylvania, Ohio.
The Coyotes, to their credit, responded to the reports from the Republic, and renounced their relationship with Miller.
On Friday, the Bruins decided Miller was worthy of signing to the contract.
Well, not so fast.
Over the weekend, Commissioner Gary Bettman, in Finland, was asked about the signing. His response was clear.
“What I understand and have heard through the media and anecdotally, what he did as a 14-year-old is reprehensible, unacceptable,” the Commissioner said. “Before the Bruins made the decision to sign him, we were not consulted. I happened to talk to Cam Neely since the time that he was signed. He’s not coming into the NHL. He’s not eligible at this point to come into the NHL. I can’t tell you that he’ll ever be eligible to come into the NHL.”
“They were free to sign him to play somewhere else, that’s another league’s issue,” Bettman added. “But nobody should think, at this point he is, or may ever be, NHL eligible. And the Bruins understand that now.”
That did not seemingly carry enough punch for the Bruins. Without eligibility to play in the NHL, the Bruins assigned Miller to their AHL affiliate in Providence.
The firestorm increased in intensity through Saturday, and finally, on Sunday, the Bruins released a statement from team president Cam Neely.
“Today the Boston Bruins have decided to part ways with Mitchell Miller, effective immediately,” Neely said in the statement. “The decision to sign this young man was made after careful consideration of the facts as we were 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.
“Based on new information, we believe it is the best decision at this time to rescind the opportunity for Mitchell Miller to represent the Boston Bruins. We hope that he continues to work with professionals and programs to further his education and personal growth.
“We owe it to our fans, players, staff, partners and community to make sure that our practices and protocols are in keeping with the ethos that we demand from ourselves and as an organization. As such, we will be reevaluating our internal processes for vetting individuals who wish to earn the privilege of playing in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins.
“We are sorry that this decision has overshadowed the incredible work the members of our organization do to support diversity and inclusion efforts. We will continue to stand against bullying and racism in all of its forms.
“To Isaiah and his family, my deepest apologies if this signing made you and other victims feel unseen and unheard. We apologize for the deep hurt and impact we have caused.
“Finally, as a father, I think there is a lesson to be learned here for other young people. Be mindful of careless behaviors and going with the group mentality of hurting others. The repercussions can be felt for a lifetime.”
‘New information’ is a dodge.
Miller has never shown remorse for the series of abuses and vile acts against the student. The mother of the victim of the abuse, said Miller has done nothing more than offer an apology over Instagram.
Several weeks ago,Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun opined on the reconstitution of Hockey Canada;s Board of Directors.
While difficult to argue against his point of diversity and inclusion in the new Hockey Canada Board, it is a major miss to not address what seems to be the real issue.
Keep in mind, Hockey Canada was embroiled in abuse and assault cases. What hamstrung Hockey Canada was the inaction of the Board and hockey leadership throughout the sport.
Simmons is correct, ‘The board has to look like Canada — white, black, brown, Asian, men, women, indigenous, and just about everything else. It has to represent who this country is and what it can become,’ Simmons wrote.
True enough, but Hockey Canada, and hockey as a sport, business, entertainment industry, and caretaker of youth of all colors and stripes, needs to take coherent action against abusers, at the time of the reports. Not after months or even years of turning a blind eye to the situation.
The Boston Bruins extended the failure of inaction by ignoring the fact that Miller was an accused, and admitted abuser, of a special needs student.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney reportedly said the organization ‘wrestled with the signing’.
Really? Wrestled with it for how long? Not long enough to not sign him, respond to the criticisms, and reassign to the Providence Bruins in the AHL.
Boston’s roster was certainly clear.
“I was asked by Don, close to a week ago, he asked for my opinion,” Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron told reporters in Toronto on Saturday. “I had my concerns. I shared my opinion. In a way, I think I was not necessarily agreeing with it — to be honest with you, I think the culture that we’ve built here goes against that type of behavior. I think we are a team built on character and with character individuals. What he did, obviously is unacceptable. We don’t stand by that.
“For me, I know for myself anyways, in this locker room, we’re all about inclusion, diversity, respect. Those are key words and core values we have. We expect guys to wear this jersey to be high-character people with integrity and respect. That’s how they should be acting.”
Brad Marchand made his feelings abundantly clear.
“We have a culture in this organization, in this room,” Marchand said. “We obviously don’t condone what happened. That will never be part of our team and our organization.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.