After a highly controversial and illustriously short stint with the Boston Bruins organization early last season, defenseman Mitchell Miller is no longer under contract with the team. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks reports the Bruins attempted to terminate Miller’s entry-level deal when they announced they’d parted ways with the 21-year-old just two days after signing him. He was not placed on unconditional waivers to execute the move, however, and the NHLPA filed a grievance. Brooks says Miller, the Bruins, and the NHLPA settled in February 2023 under the condition of confidentiality, granting Miller a one-time unknown payment and unrestricted free agent status. Miller’s contract was still active on Boston’s CapFriendly page until this weekend, though the site now shows his contract was officially terminated on April 30, 2023.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney signed Miller in November 2022 despite public knowledge that he’d been convicted of assault in 2016 for bullying and abusing Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, a Black classmate with developmental disabilities. Boston was not the first team to acquire Miller’s NHL rights, however – the Arizona Coyotes selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft but renounced his rights after the assault conviction became public despite knowing of his conviction at the time of the draft. Miller’s assault of his classmate, detailed by The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline after the Coyotes dropped him from their reserve list, included allegations of racial slurs toward Meyer-Crothers and multiple forms of physical and verbal bullying.
The Bruins moved on from Miller within hours of acquiring him, though, with team president Cam Neely apologizing that “this decision has overshadowed the incredible work the members of our organization do to support diversity and inclusion efforts.” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also said Miller was not eligible to play in the NHL and would need to have his status reviewed before being granted permission to play.
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported in November that a settlement similar to the one eventually reached was one of three possibilities for Boston to contractually separate from Miller. After not playing at all in 2022-23, Brooks says Miller’s likiest option to continue a pro hockey career will be in Europe.
O/U 5 hours before comments are locked
Meh. This site isnt nearly as Gestapoish as Sportsnet, or other Canadian sites are. If any comment is construed as anti Trans-Muslim-Native-American-BLM-COVID-lockdown hate speech, or equivalent, then the thread gets locked. At least they give ya a couple hours here.
Never should have gotten a contract to begin with. This kids a punk and doesn’t deserve the right to play pro sports anywhere
Do you decide who deserves what now? Who tf r u?
Dumb comment man, why would my opinion decide anything? It’s an opinion, in case you haven’t heard, opinions are like a holes everyone has one kyle
Get off ya horse
Took you 2 months to come back with that response?
I waz busy
Lol
Hope he can grow, even grow up as a person. I do believe in second chances, but I am glad he’s going through his trials of fire. If he really wants to play he’ll do what is necessary. The Yotes even drafting him leaves a bit of a mark on the league. Ditto the Bruins.
Wonder what he could do to be allowed to continue his career in North America. What he did was horrible but he was a kid, and hopefully he’s already much more mature than he was as a teen. We’ve seen grown adults do much worse and be allowed to continue their career, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with him.
Neely and Sweeney are both morons!!!!!
doghockey to write yet another paragraph telling us what a moron Wilf is in 5…4…3….2….1…
Teams are increasingly straying away from guys with troubling behaviors or actions in their past. Teams simply don’t need the baggage or the potential for trouble. Gone are the days when players were out at all of hours of the night and then played the next day. Or regularly got into bar fights. We do see examples of where highly talented players with issues are given longer leashes and opportunities than average players or prospects. However, in general, teams are placing 100% commitment to winning over and above partying all night.
Have no fear, boozing & whoring still happens on the regular in all pro sports.
Was worried there for a moment. Wonder if the Vikings still go on boat “parties”
Yep. And more and more those guys are weeded out in hockey. Ask Galchenuyk.