NHL Notebook: It’s time for Bruins to move on from Mitchell Miller and end this embarrassing chapter

Nick Foligno has only played 76 games in a black-and-gold sweater. But even before he began his tenure in Boston, the veteran forward had already heard plenty about the culture cultivated in the Bruins' locker room. 

Word tends to get around quickly in pro hockey, especially given the large circle of connections sprinkled across the league. And over the years, the character-driven principles instilled by Boston’s veteran leaders have become as synonymous with the Original Six franchise as the success that the B’s have achieved out on the ice. 

It’s a culture and an identity that multiple newcomers to the team such as Foligno, Charlie Coyle, Hampus Lindholm and A.J. Greer all mentioned upon arriving in Boston.

It’s a culture that stressed communication, accountability, respect — and action.

It’s one thing to preach such intangible principles over the course of an 82-game season, but it’s another thing entirely to carry them out by way of tangible initiatives.

Foligno heard of the stories of Zdeno Chara and his anti-hazing policy against rookies — a measure set down following Chara’s own miserable experiences when growing up in Europe.

Foligno was cognizant of Patrice Bergeron’s lead-by-example mantra both on and off the ice. He heard of Bergeron’s efforts at establishing an open line of communication with every player in the room. He was aware of Bergeron’s $50,000 donation to the Boston chapter of the NAACP and the Centre Multiethnique in his native Quebec in wake of the murder of George Floyd, and his subsequent statement on why “silence is not an option” for professional athletes in matters pertaining to race. 

And now, even after spending a little over a season in that same room, Foligno stands as just the latest in a long line of Bruins skaters proudly carrying the torch first sparked by a leadership group focused on forging something that prioritizes character over even things like outright talent. 

And given all that Foligno has both heard and later experienced when it comes to the Bruins’ core principles, he was among the countless others who expressed a similar sentiment after the Bruins opted to sign a player with a sordid past like Mitchell Miller on Friday.

“It’s not something anyone in this room stands for,” Foligno said Saturday in Toronto. “The culture we’ve built and these guys have built before I got here is one of inclusion. I think it goes against that. I understand he was 14 when he made this mistake. But it’s hard for us to swallow. Because we take a lot of pride in here in the way we act, the way we carry ourselves, what it is to be a Bruin. So that was a tough thing to hear for our group. 

“I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t think any guy was too happy because of how proud we are to say this is a group that cares a lot about ourselves, how we carry ourselves and how we treat people. So that was, for a lot of guys, especially the ones that have been here, a tough pill to swallow. In the same light, I don’t think the organization’s ever not looking out for the best interests of us. But I think we have a lot of concerns.”

When the Bruins — in the midst of a 10-1-0 start to their season and starting to spark embers of hope of a potential Cup run this spring— opted to douse themselves in gasoline and set themselves ablaze by giving Mitchell a road to the pro ranks, it was to be expected for there to be waves of criticism and confusion.

Hell, even Boston’s own GM expressed doubt that such a move was the right one to make.

“I can’t categorically tell you this is the absolute right decision,” Don Sweeney acknowledged on Friday. “This is an opportunity that we’re providing for a young man that is going to work to continue to earn trust and respect, as each and every one of us do every day. 

But even amid that uncertainty, it’s been clear as the criticism and concern have continued to build (both outside the organization and now within the team’s own dressing room), that the organization woefully underestimated just how severe the ramifications would be when it came to penning themselves as the potential author of Miller’s redemption arc. 

That’s a catastrophic failure on the part of Boston’s management — not only sullying any of the good tidings drawn out of this current roster’s splendid start, but more importantly, eroding some of those character-first foundations that this organization has prided itself in for more than two decades.

As of Friday night, the Bruins were deservedly maligned for being the latest sporting franchise to prioritize talent and on-field production at the detriment of basic moral code.  

But as more and more details started to emerge on Saturday, it’s clear that this entire ugly saga is not a self-inflicted misstep by Boston born out of simple negligence or flawed thinking. 

Rather, it’s more of a complete failure brought upon by pure incompetence for a once-proud franchise —  an ugly chapter for an organization whose only path moving forward needs to involve cutting ties with a toxic player like Miller.

Even amid the doubts expressed by Sweeney on Friday, both his comments and those of Cam Neely were also buoyed by repeated assurances that the team had done its due diligence on Miller and felt as though they had seen enough to warrant handing him a contract.

“We just have a much better understanding, and we feel we’re in a position that when doors were slamming, that maybe we would allow one to open up,” Sweeney said of Boston’s discussions with Miller. “And we felt as an organization we’d be strong enough to do that and hold him to the standard that we put forth in our release that each and every one of us as employees and part of Delaware North and the Boston Bruins are going to hold ourselves to that standard and Mitchell will be held to that.” 

Of course, it’s already a bad look that the Bruins felt they were the team capable of giving an individual who admitted in court to repeatedly bullying a black classmate with developmental disabilities — including slamming his head into a brick wall, calling him racial slurs and even making him eat a candy that was smeared through a urinal — a second chance. 

It was immediately made worse when Sweeney admitted that the Bruins did not reach out to the victim, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, and his family throughout this extended process — with the Bruins frankly telling on themselves as far as whatever shoddy “due diligence” they carried out with Miller. 

Of course, beyond the Bruins’ inexplicable logic when it came to not contacting the Meyer-Crothers family (especially with a case involving such graphic and severe details), it’s clear that the team took Miller at his word when he said that reached out and apologized to Meyer-Crothers before signing his deal with Boston.

HAD they opted to contact the Meyer-Crothers family, they would probably have heard a different tale from Joni Meyer-Crothers, Isaiah’s mother. Because in multiple interviews with various media outlets, Joni Meyer-Crothers shared that Miller only apologized to her son last week via Instagram, and that in his expressed regret (via a social-media message), he said it had nothing to do with hockey — although it was clear that NHL offers were on the table as of last week.

Another party that the Bruins didn’t consult before signing Miller? The NHL itself. While speaking with reporters at the NHL Global Series in Finland, commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged that the Bruins had no communication with the league before the signing, and that Miller is currently not even eligible to play in the NHL. 

“Before the Bruins made the decision to sign him, we were not consulted. I happened to talk to Cam Neely since the time he was signed,” Bettman said. “He's not coming into the NHL. He's not eligible at this point to come into the NHL. I can't tell you that he'll ever be eligible to come into the NHL. If, at some point, they think they want him to play in the NHL, and I'm not sure they're anywhere close to that point, we're going to have to clear him and his eligibility. 

“It will be based on all the information that we get firsthand at the time. So the answer is: They were free to sign him to play somewhere else. That's another organization. But nobody should think at this point he is or may ever be NHL eligible. And the Bruins understand that."

And based on comments released by the AHL, it doesn’t seem as though it’s Miller could be cleared to even play in that league until his overall case is reviewed further.

So, in summary, the Bruins opted to sign a player with Miller’s history to a contract containing a maximum signing bonus and performance bonuses — creating a firestorm of controversy that has engulfed the franchise and this current team — and didn’t even check to see if the NHL would even sanction his eligibility to play?

It’s just a colossal amalgam of ignorance and ineptitude on the part of the Bruins’ front-office staff — with the most damning commentary now coming from within the Bruins' own room.

Foligno was not the only B’s player to voice his concern about the Bruins’ plans regarding Miller. And even though Sweeney said that the organization did consult with its veteran leadership about the signing, it’s clear that they, once again, didn’t read the room at all.

Because now, it’s the Bruins leaders on the ice — the ones responsible for building this culture of inclusion and respect — who have to be pushed in front of microphones and asked to answer for the faults of a front-office staff that threw such virtues out the window. 

“I think I had my concerns. I shared my opinion. In a way, I think I was not necessarily agreeing with it,” Bergeron said. “To be honest with you, I think the culture that we've built here, it goes against the type of behavior. I think we're a team that's built something about character and character people and individuals. What he did, obviously, is unacceptable. 

“We don't stand by that. I know for myself anyways and in this locker room, we're all about inclusion, diversity, respect. Those are key words and key values we have. We expect guys to wear this jersey to be high-character people with integrity and respect. That's how they should be acting. My understanding is that he's gonna put in the work in development programs and community programs for himself. It's up to him to do that. That's it. From my standpoint, it's a hockey operations decision. For myself, we can control what we can control. Truthfully, hopefully there's some growth and change. If it's the same 14-year-old that would be walking into this locker room, he wouldn't be accepted and wanted and welcomed in this locker room, to be honest with you.”

So now, Bergeron, back for potentially one last ride after taking an absurdly cheap contract for this team, is now tasked with being a spokesperson for a decision that goes against all of the principles that he helped built within this franchise?

Add in the unending flood of emails from outraged B’s supporters that ultimately prompted an auto-reply response from the team’s fan-relations email due to high traffic volume, and the Bruins have found themselves mired in a muck stewed together by their own short-sightedness and blatant ignorance.

And let’s face it, even if Boston does ultimately reverse course on Miller and cut ties with the prospect — the damage has already been done. 

The Bruins can’t simply absolve themselves from the fact that they scribbled this ugly chapter for themselves by being the team willing to hand out that hefty ELC to Miller. 

They can’t scrub out the stain of a decision that has brewed up a mass of disappointed and angry fans — some of whom have been let down by their hometown club on the ice, but rarely when it comes to their morals off the frozen sheet. 

They can’t erase the flawed measures that they took to reach the decision to sign Miller, nor the half-assed due diligence they performed that apparently didn’t take the word of a young man tortured for years into account.

And they can’t turn back the clock and avoid a situation in which these B’s players and staff are having to speak for and handle a decision that goes against everything that they helped build. 

All they can do now is admit their mistake, move on from Miller and try to put this ugly, embarrassing saga behind them.

It’s not only the right move amid a wave of logic-defying missteps by this front office. 

Frankly, it’s the only one at this point.