Why Releasing Mitchell Miller Makes The Bruins Look Worse Than Before

BOSTON, MA – After a weekend full of turmoil, and disgust from the fans (and most players), the Boston Bruins finally made what many fans see as the “right decision” – rescinding their contract offer to Mitchell Miller on Sunday night.

While there were some fans who defended Miller’s honor, and said that he was a kid who made a stupid mistake when he was younger, most were disgusted with the Bruins for signing someone that went against so many of the teams core values – especially in a year where Willie O’Ree’s number 22 was lifted to the TD Garden rafters.

Now, while the B’s released Miller on Sunday night, and have almost certainly released the temporary black cloud that hanging over the organization with the signing, they almost certainly look worse than before. Here are a few reasons why.

5. It’s a duct tape fix.

By releasing him, it’s like breaking your kids PlayStation and buying him a new one before he comes home from school. It shows that you acknowledge there was wrongful action taken, but you want to cover it up like nothing happened.

They fixed the weight that was hanging over the team for the last three days, and weathered through the storm of all the fans sending them figurative (and probably actual) hate-mail, but that doesn’t fix the fact that they signed him in the first place.

Maybe as someone who was diagnosed with learning differences I’m biased, but the Bruins willingness to just let something that happened when he was 14 slide and say that they “thoroughly vetted him” before they signed him is deplorable and a half truth at best.

4. He was going to be a distraction from day one and they knew it.

Don’t get me wrong, Miller’s numbers are impressive: 39 goals, 44 assists (83 pts) in 60 games, and as a defenseman no-less. Is it worth signing someone with that type of baggage just because of some impressive numbers?

The prevailing – along with my own – opinion is no, and the reason is a one-word response: distraction. From day one the media was clamoring to talk to him, to get answers from him about what he did. They were even talking in Boston about hypotheticals with captain Patrice Bergeron on whether he would be welcome in Boston.

The fact that those questions needed to be addressed just a day after signing him is enough for any reporter to say this.

Sure, the Bruins aren’t the New England Patriots where being a distraction is an immediate detriment to your status on the team, but being a distraction on an Original Six team and playing in the giant media market that is Boston, Massachusetts is nothing to sneeze at.

3. Releasing him proves the team was never positive he would learn from his actions.

As with any player who makes mistakes, there is no guarantee they will ever learn from their actions. More often than not, however, the team will take a gamble.

There are examples of players learning from their mistakes and becoming better on the other side such as Evander Kane who was given a second chance after using racial slurs and used it as a wake-up call. Then on the flip-side there are people like former Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe who practically threatened to turn Herb Carnegie white or he would never sign him.

Overall, from an outsiders perspective, if you’re going to give someone a chance to better themselves on-and-off the ice… Give them that chance! Given that they signed him to a deal on Friday, and released him two days later makes them look wishy-washy. Almost like they can’t make up their mind about who they see him as as a person.

2. There was no apology before last week (and it was only because of Sweeney).

Speaking of learning from his actions, it truly looks like Miller never did learn from his actions – given the much-belated apology he made to Isaiah Meyer-Crothers. His formal apology came just last week as he signed with the Bruins, and only with the insistence of Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney.

The icing on the cake came when it came out that the apology came in the form of a message on the social media platform Snapchat in which he said “hey, I’m sorry for what I did when we were 14.” Not much of an apology if you ask me. Sure, he apologized at 14 through a court-mandated note, but Meyer-Crothers’ family stated that they never received the note.

First of all, the incident was six years ago. Miller’s friend had no problem apologizing right then and there and even cried when apologizing, but for Miller to go into college at the University of North Dakota in 2020 and to think it has gone away makes the team look horrible.

The Bruins signed someone who had six years to formally apologize to someone he had severely bullied. Not only did he refuse to apologize, but he also showed a lack of remorse when accused – and convicted of – assault in juvenile court.

Perhaps the most damning part of this stanza of Miller’s life is that he was cut from the Fighting Hawks’ hockey team for the incident, and was allowed to stay in school.

1. All the no comments then suddenly more information came out and they had answers.

When you do something wrong in school, they tell you the best thing to do is to either be honest about it, apologize, or sometimes even both. The Bruins did none of the above.

Instead they talked all week about how great of a player he was, took the backlash from all of the fans with a grain of salt, and attempted to move forward as if they hadn’t done anything to tarnish their legacy.

In reality, when they didn’t have any answers all week, but suddenly had answers Monday morning in a press conference with reporters, they had everything you wanted to know. It’s almost as if they were concocting a PR stunt just to test the media – both locally and nationally.

When more information came out and the organization released him on Sunday night, one can only wonder what information they found that was more damning than the bullying information they already had.

Was it more than an isolated incident? Did it continue on after he was 14? Did he lie to the organization about his apology?

The Bruins could not be reached out to for comment at this time.

One can only speculate from here. The Bruins could not be reached for comment at the writing of this article.