Bruins Would Not Share if Controversial Signing Mitchell Miller Made Trip to Bridgeport

The Bridgeport Islanders are back in action today, as they host the Providence Bruins. The storyline should be how both teams were coming into the contest playing strong hockey, with Bridgeport (7-1-1-0) just a point behind Providence (7-1-1-1) in the Atlantic Division standings.

But the storyline was the Boston Bruins newest prospect Mitchell Miller, who was signed to an entry-level deal this past Friday.

Miller was a former fourth-round draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes, but his troubled past led to his rights being renounced.

At the age of 20, Mitchell Miller was convicted in juvenile court of bullying and abusing a classmate when he was 14. He was found guilty of accusations that, starting in second grade, he and a classmate repeatedly bullied their disabled African American classmate Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, including using repeated racial slurs and physically demeaning him. The Coyotes had come under immediate and heavy scrutiny after drafting Miller but it wasn’t until a series of letters from Meyer-Crothers’ mother Joni and eventually sitting down with and listening to her, did they decide to cut ties with Miller.

The former USHL star also lost a full scholarship to the University of North Dakota due to the stories that surfaced.

He has since acknowledged his mistake but never apologized to Meyer-Crothers until his career was in jeapordary. And to this day, Joni has stated publically that her child never received an apology that showed remorse.

Then the Bruins signed him and sent him to Providence, where he has practiced, but has yet to play in a game for them.

With the Providence Bruins in Bridgeport, NYI Hockey Now reached out to Providence to find out if Mitchell Miller had made the trip. They stated that they would not be making any comments on Miller at this time.

We also reached out to someone close to the situation who shared that they believed he had made the trip.

Per NYI Hockey Now’s Josh Linsenberg, who is on the scene in Bridgeport for the contest, shared that Mitchell Miller was in the media guide, but he was not listed on the game roster.

The Providence Bruins lines for the contest against the Bridgeport Islanders were shared out via Mark Divver, but before warmups ever took place:

This story will be updated after warmups to see if he takes part, which he should not be allowed to do if he is not on the game roster. 

This Mitchel Mliller signing has led to an incredible amount of negative attention for the Boston Bruins, a team that sits atop the Atlantic Divison with a  10-2-0 record.

Boston general manager Don Sweeney had this to say regarding the signing:

“I can’t categorically tell you this is the absolute right decision…I felt that if other teams were going to be willing to give him — I’m not going to speak for other teams — a chance, I think we all have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Why wouldn’t we be willing to give him a chance?’

He also added:

“I’ve also come to the understanding that I don’t think forgiveness is part of this because if that had happened to one of my own children, I can’t categorically say that I would have [forgiven him].”

Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron spoke with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Saturday about the signing of the troubled prospect.

“I was on the fence,” Bergeron told Fredman during the Hockey Night In Canada broadcast of the Bruins-Maple Leafs game Saturday night. “As a person but also as a team, we stand for integrity and inclusion and diversity, obviously. That was the first thing that came out of my mouth, was that it goes against what we are as a culture and as a team. And for me as a person.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman assured that the young prospect wouldn’t be playing in the NHL anytime soon and would need to be cleared by the league after checking all kinds of boxes in terms of redemption, accountability, and remorse for his inexcusable past actions as a teenager.