This piece is simply informational, with some opinions towards the end. This piece is also hard-hitting and serious, unlike my typical light and funny analytics. The purpose of this is to quickly tell this story because it is important, and because we are all busy; so please take the 5 minutes to learn about Mitchell Miller and the Boston Bruins.
We know 2 things about the Boston Bruins; the first being that they are both one of the best teams in the NHL as well as one of the oldest teams in the NHL. In fact the Bruins were 10-1 when this incident went down, which makes it even more of a head scratcher. The second thing we know is that their management group is aggressive and decisive when it comes to trades, free agents, contracts, etc. Well, that decisiveness showed faulty logic last week when the team decided to sign Mitchell Miller to an NHL entry level deal, and then release him 2 days later after the monumental backlash the team received from the decision.
Who is Mitchell Miller and why are the Bruins dumb? Well, I will briefly go over that for you guys here.
Miller was 14 years old when he decided that fellow student Isaiah Meyer-Crothers was going to be his victim of bullying for the next several years of their adolescent lives. Meyer-Crothers is a black man (kid then) who had/has developmental disabilities. This made him stand out as an easy target for Miller. It was well documented legally that Miller punched Meyer-Crothers in the head every single morning on their way to school, as well as calling him the N word; in fact Miller has been quoted saying that Meyer-Crothers biological parents didn’t love him for racial reasons. The biggest documented story that got Miller convicted as a juvenile was when Miller stuck a lollypop in a school urinal and made Meyer-Crothers consume said lollypop. Miller was convicted and the judge stated that she did not believe that Miller was sorry for his actions. To this day, Miller has not shown any signs of being apathetic for his actions towards Meyer-Crothers, and the Bruins signed him anyways.
Mitchell Miller is a talented 20 year old defenseman that was drafted 111th overall in 2020 by the Arizona Coyotes; however, most teams had Miller as a unanimous 1st round talent but did not want that extra baggage. Talent wise, the Coyotes got a steal in the 4th round, but eventually, had to release Miller. The Bruins have one of the weakest prospect pools in the entire NHL, and they tried to pull one over on the hockey community, and it didn’t work. After a buy-out, Miller should cost the Bruins $200,000’ish on the salary cap for the next 3 seasons, as well as had to pay him his $95,000 signing bonus. Not a bad payday for a bad person that has no remorse for his actions.
Miller’s agent has stated that Miller has worked with the Carnegie Initiative to better himself as a person, as well as apologized to Meyer-Crothers several times. The reality is that Miller only recently messaged Meyer-Crothers, and logically the reasoning is because the Bruins told him to. Also, the Carnegie Initiative which is an inclusive hockey group, stated that Mitchell Miller has not been in close contact with them at all. Liar liar pants on fire.
The hours between the Mitchell Miller signing and buy-out, the players played a game that they lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Do you think the Toronto media asked the Bruins about the game or this entire Miller fiasco/debacle? The answer is that NHL veterans Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Nick Foligno answered questions about the Miller signing very directly and honestly. All 3 of them said that their locker room doesn’t stand for that type of behavior. In all my years enjoying and analyzing hockey, I have never seen players criticize the front office.
Apr 26, 2022; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) is congratulated by left wing Jake DeBrusk (74) and center Patrice Bergeron (37) after scoring against the Florida Panthers during the third period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Don Sweeney (Bruins GM) and Cam Neely (team president) obviously misconstrued this signing. They were either willfully ignorant and do not care about racism and bullying, or quite simply they are stupid. Either way, I would not want them running my franchise if I owned the Bruins. Side note, when asked by the media after the buy-out Cam Neely said (and I am paraphrasing) that they didn’t even consult the Meyer-Crothers family before signing Mitchell Miller. Isaiah Meyer-Crothers is a young man with a family and kid now, and now has to relive this trauma that Miller put him through. All because the Bruins made an atrocious judgement call to restock their prospect pool, and in my personal opinion, such a lapse in judgement is a fire-able offense.
My advice to young kids is to put your phones down when you see bullying to this extent and help the victim out. Miller’s Dad has said that a mistake at 14 should not ruin your life; but I vehemently disagree. I think that as parents you need to raise your kid to not be cruel to others and that equality is important. If Miller had guidance, sought help, or felt apathy or remorse, he would probably be making millions of dollars in the NHL right now with the Arizona Coyotes. In general I believe in 2nd chances, but if you have done less than the bare minimum and lied about important things; then I do not feel sorry for you, and you get what you get. Fire Don Sweeney and Cam Neely, and let Patrice Bergeron be the GM as well as the captain.
