There was no sweeping speech delivered in the visiting locker room at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Nor was a raised-hand tally needed for a Bruins roster that — thanks to an embarrassing debacle put forth by their front-office staff — had to field questions for a short-sighted, ignorant decision that was made with little regard for their thoughts.
But when both Don Sweeney and Cam Neely met with Patrice Bergeron and the rest of the Bruins players on Saturday up in Toronto, one thing became abundantly clear.
When it came to the Bruins’ ill-advised signing of Mitchell Miller, the reception within Boston’s room was united in its overall disapproval.
“In a way, yes,” Bergeron said Monday on whether there was universal opposition to the signing. “Obviously, like anything, it’s not like everyone has something to say, but I feel like the general opinion was that. I’m glad that we were heard.”
Sure enough, after meeting with Boston’s top brass, Bergeron and the rest of the B’s veterans were largely fed to the wolves up north in Toronto, facing droves of reporters and cameras desperately searching, like all of us, for answers in wake of the franchise’s logic-bending roster move.
But rather than toe any semblance of a company line or resort to the usual bag of cliched tricks when it comes to saying little in a media scrum, the Bruins’ leaders made sure that those thoughts shared behind closed doors were broadcast out into the open.
“It’s not something anyone in this room stands for,” Nick 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.
🎥 #NHLBruins forward Nick Foligno addresses the media ahead of tonight's game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto: pic.twitter.com/fHLOLyy1Rw
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 5, 2022
“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.”
While the Bruins’ decision-makers certainly expected plenty of criticism online and from fans in the immediate aftermath of bringing aboard a player with Miller’s past into the system, it’s another failure entirely when those feelings of concern are broadcast within the organization’s own dressing room.
Sure enough, just 33 hours after the Bruins’ veteran core shared their candid thoughts on the team’s decision to pen Miller’s redemption arc in pro hockey, the Bruins officially cut ties with Miller — halting one of the ugliest chapters in this Original Six franchise’s long history.
“I mean, there's a lot of factors in this decision, that was one of them,” Cam Neely said when asked Monday if the players’ reaction led to Miller’s dismissal.
For Bergeron, who helped cultivate a locker-room culture known across the league for its emphasis on communication, acceptance and respect, the decision to share his thoughts on the Miller signing stood as a no-brainer.
“I think just to stay true to my values, really, is what it comes down to,” Bergeron said. “I think it’s important sometimes to stand up for what you think is wrong. I think that situation, it goes back to what we built here as an organization and as a team and as a locker room, is to be inclusive, to have a locker room of respect and integrity. I think it was just a matter of doing that.”
Of course, even though Boston cut ties with Miller on Sunday, the damage has already been done when it comes to the current stain soaked into the fabric of this once-pride franchise. Plenty of work sits on the horizon for this team, to say the least.
The first order on the docket is reaching out and contacting Isaiah Meyer-Crothers’ family — a laughable lapse in “due diligence” on the part of the Bruins that could have snuffed out this entire scenario before it surged into a firestorm.
But the Bruins are also going to have to build back trust within their own fanbase, many of whom have spent the last few days questioning whether or not those character-first principles built into the bedrock of this team’s culture had eroded, or perhaps weren’t even there in the first place.
“I understand them,” Bergeron said of his message to the fans in the aftermath of this ugly stretch of days. “That being said, for us nothing has changed as far as who we are as individuals and as a person and as a culture in this locker room and what our core values are, really. So, as much as I understand them -- we hear you, and we feel like our values remain the same. That’s what we stand for.”
And while Bergeron and the rest of the stalwarts in Boston’s room said all the right things over these last few days, the same can’t be said for the team’s front-office grouping — the same assortment who plunged this team headfirst into a weekend of misery and ridicule with this foolhardy move.
On Monday morning, Neely didn’t have all of the answers when it came to chronicling the extent of the organization’s failings, especially in regards to not vetting Miller’s past.
Some of the next steps for a franchise looking to right the ship are still to be determined, especially when it comes to potential disciplinary action for those who orchestrated this move.
Other details — such as the financial implications of contractually cutting ties with Miller and agent Eustace King’s role in these discussions — were not divulged by Neely, with protracted negotiations potentially in play with the team, player and union representatives.
But amid a press conference filled with remorse — but not a whole lot of clarity — Neely did offer up a sobering thought when asked if he fully expected the pushback that the club would receive from fans, media and even the players.
"Well, initially I was thinking it was going to be, 'Okay, this kid deserves a second chance.' You know, I thought there would be some people that were going to be upset about it," Neely said. "But to the extent of this — I misread that."
It’s a concerning admission, to say the least. Because beyond that surprise from team executives, just about everyone else was fully cognizant of the hornet’s nest that was going to be kicked when this signing was announced.
Bergeron and Foligno's thoughts were not just pushback in wake of a decision that threatened to hew into the ironclad culture forged by these players.
They were also the necessary checks and balances against a decision and a player that threatened the entire identity of this organization.
The Bruins may not be the top dog in the crowded sphere that is the Boston sports market, but B’s fans are a dedicated bunch. It’s a coalition of supporters united by blue-collar grit and unwavering loyalty.
As seen whenever a power-play opportunity fades or a blueliner sees a puck skip over his stick in the offensive zone, Bruins fans can often be demanding.
Stubborn? Oh yes.
Pessimistic. Mhm.
But amid those sometimes unrealistic expectations and demands doled out by this fanbase, there also lies a resolute moral compass — and a reverence for the principles and culture that the players on the ice have set down for years.
Yes, roars of approval rained down from the Garden nosebleeds when Brad Marchand used Daniel Sedin’s face as a speedbag. But off the ice, Bruins fans often beam with pride when it comes to this team’s efforts at building a more inclusive and respectful identity amid a sea of status-quo franchises across the NHL.
It’s that admiration of this team’s identity that led to thousands of fans flooding the Bruins’ fan-relations email with concerned epistles all weekend until the server waved the white flag due to high traffic.
It’s that admiration that warranted such a concern about Miller — a problematic player whose docket was ripe for dissection, even if it’s become obvious that the organization wasn’t going to burden itself with such a procedure.
Hell, even the Coyotes — a team currently playing in a college hockey area smaller than similar barns at BU, BC and Maine – renounced Miller’s rights once new findings (all of which were readily available for Boston) made said player radioactive.
Had there not been such a fervent response from fans and especially the players within the team, it sure seems likely that Miller would still be on this team — ready to begin his pro career after failing to show much in terms of remorse for his treatment of Meyer-Crothers.
“Well, we signed him,” Neely said. "So I would assume, and we made a decision to sign the player."
The Bruins have a long way to go when it comes to repairing their brand and reputation, both within this market and across hockey as a whole.
Bergeron and Co.’s public repudiation of Boston’s disgraceful handling of this whole situation offered some proof that the foundation of this team’s identity is still secure — and that the love doled out by this passionate fanbase will continue to be validated.
It’s just a shame that those who make the calls and pull the strings of this proud franchise can’t say the same thing.