The Boston Bruins have signed Mitchell Miller, the renounced Arizona Coyotes draft pick who assaulted, bullied and abused a Black classmate with a learning disability, to an entry-level contract, the team announced Friday.
Miller, 20, was charged with assault and a violation of the Ohio Safe Schools Act in February of 2016 after he and another student admitted to bullying Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, a Black classmate with a learning disability. Part of that bullying included wiping a piece of candy in a urinal and then tricking Meyer-Crothers into consuming it.
In 2020, Meyer-Crothers told the Arizona Republic that Miller had taunted him for years growing up and called him names like “brownie” and used the “N-word” while repeatedly hitting him. He said it “hurt my heart” when he saw the news that Miller had been drafted by the Coyotes in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, where he was taken 111th overall.
After the news came out in October of 2020, the Coyotes renounced the rights to Miller, who was their top draft pick that summer. A day later, the University of North Dakota dropped Miller from its program. He did not play hockey during the 2020-21 season.
In a statement, Bruins president Cam Neely said that during an evaluation period Miller was "accountable for his unacceptable behaviour and demonstrated his commitment to work with multiple organizations and professionals to further his education and use his mistake as a teachable moment for others."
"The expectation is that he will continue this important educational work with personal development and community programs as a member of the Bruins organization," Neely added.
Miller addressed the past incidents in a statement of his own released by the Bruins, pledging to use this opportunity to "speak out against mistreating others."
"When I was in eighth grade, I made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely," said Miller. "I bullied one of my classmates. I deeply regret the incident and have apologized to the individual. Since the incident, I have come to better understand the far-reaching consequences of my actions that I failed to recognize and understand nearly seven years ago.
"I strive to be a better person and positively contribute to society. As a member of the Bruins organization, I will continue to participate in community programs to both educate myself and share my mistakes with others to show what a negative impact those actions can have on others."
Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discussed the signing during Friday's edition of The Jeff Marek Show on Sportsnet's The Fan 590. Discussion begins at 14:48 below.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney spoke to reporters after the signing on Friday, saying, "I am not going to downplay that this has been a personal struggle as well as a professional struggle."
"Mitchell's paid a punishment, and he's going to continue to carry that for the rest of his life. We're going to hold him to a standard," Sweeney said.
"This decision could be wrong ... It invited a lot of negativity that we didn't need or want," he later added.
In his own press conference with the Providence Bruins, Boston's AHL affiliate, Miller said "a couple" NHL teams were interested, and that he chose the Bruins because they had the best resources for him.
The native of Sylvania, Ohio, returned to the USHL's Tri-City Storm last season, where he’d played prior to being drafted, finishing third in league scoring and top among defencemen, with 39 goals and 83 points in 60 games — earning player of the year honours as voted by the league’s general managers.
The USHL’s announcement of the award stated: “League awards are voted on by each Member Club’s General Manager after each Club nominates their players for awards.”
When the Storm offered Miller a spot on the team in August 2021, it stated: “We know Mitchell very well and we are convinced what happened when he was 14 isn’t indicative of his character or who he is now as a 19-year-old young man.” The Storm added that Mitchell had been actively involved in community service initiatives that support anti-bullying efforts, special needs children, disabled athletes, the homeless and the elderly.
At that time, Joni Meyer-Crothers, Isaiah’s mother, told The Athletic that they still had not received an apology from Miller, five years after the bullying took place.
