Why the Boston Bruins cut ties with Mitchell Miller just 2 days after signing

Boston Bruins President Cam Neely announced on Sunday that the team was parting ways with recently acquired defense prospect, Mitchell Miller, just two days after signing the controversial player.

Miller's contract prompted an immediate backlash from both fans and players, and National Hockey League (NHL) Commissioner Gary Bettman commented that the 20-year-old would not be eligible to play in the league due to his extensive history of bullying and abuse. 

"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," Neely said. "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."

Miller first raised eyebrows in 2020 when news of his racialized bullying of a developmentally disabled classmate came to light during the NHL draft. 

Selected as Arizona’s fourth-round draft pick, the team quickly renounced their draft rights for the player when they learned more about his behavior off the ice. 

Joni Meyer-Crothers, the mother of Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, told the team in 2020 that her son had been regularly targeted and beaten over the course of years by Miller. "As far as I'm concerned, he's a monster,” she said in a letter to the team. 

Photo: Facebook @TriCityStorm 

"He told our son that his Black mom and dad didn't love him, that's why he had white parents," Meyer-Crothers said, and "on a daily basis, was called the N-word. [Miller] would ask Isaiah to sit with him on the bus, and as soon as Isaiah would sit with him, he and his friends would just punch Isaiah in the head nonstop, and all he wanted was friends. So he was an easy target for Mitchell."

Photo: Facebook @TriCityStorm 

Miller pleaded guilty in 2016 at the age of 14 to one count of assault and one count of violating the Ohio Safe Schools Act for the role he played during a serious bullying incident involving Meyers-Crothers. 

Miller and another teenager were accused of forcing Meyer-Crothers to eat candy that had been soaked in a bathroom urinal, and school surveillance cameras showed the boys kicking and punching their classmate.

Photo: Facebook @TriCityStorm 

In a statement to the public on the Bruins’ website, Cam Neely asserted that while the team had known about the conviction and were aware of the facts, they believed the situation to be a one-off incident. 

"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," Neely said. 

"We understood this to be an isolated incident and that he had taken meaningful action to reform and was committed to ongoing personal development,” Neely continued in his statement, “Based on that understanding we offered him a contract.”

But the bullying incident in 2016 was not a one-off. Joni Meyers-Crothers provided proof in 2020 that Miller's bullying of Isaiah continued well into 2018, and claimed it had caused significant damage to her son. 

Photo: from Twitter @freetastesgood

"When I was in eighth grade, I made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely," Miller said in a statement responding to the criticism of his signing, "I bullied one of my classmates. I deeply regret the incident and have apologized to the individual. 

Photo: Facebook @TriCityStorm 

“Since the incident,” Miller went on to state, “I have come to better understand the far-reaching consequences of my actions that I failed to recognize and understand nearly seven years ago."

Photo: Facebook @TriCityStorm 

But fans and players alike didn’t buy Miller's public statement. It is rumored that Bruins’ team captain Patrice Bergeron was consulted about the contract deal and was against it. 

"The culture that we built here goes against that type of behavior," Bergeron said. "In this locker room, we're all about inclusion, diversity, respect." This a sentiment that perfectly encapsulated how many fans felt about Miller signing with the Bruins. 

Miller's future as a hockey player has yet to be determined. While he has been deemed ineligible to play in the NHL for his actions, it is still to be decided if this new controversy will see the defenseman barred from playing in other regional and international leagues.