Bruins president: 'We should've done a better job' before signing Miller
Boston Bruins president Cam Neely admitted the club could have "dug deeper" before deciding to sign Mitchell Miller, whom it ultimately cut a couple days later due to the player's history of discrimination and harassment.
"There's a lot of people that are let down today. I'm disappointed that we're in this position," Neely told reporters Monday, per Sportsnet. "We shouldn't be in this position. ... We should've done a better job."
The Bruins have been under fire since signing Miller to an entry-level contract Friday. Neely admitted he "misread" the amount of backlash the team would face, which contributed to the Bruins' decision to move on.
"For me, it was not worth putting the organization through this any longer," Neely said.
He added, "We like to take pride in what we do in the community and how we hold ourselves accountable. And we dropped the ball, and I'm here to apologize for that."
Miller was originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the fourth round in 2020, but the team renounced his rights shortly after.
He admitted in court in 2016 to bullying Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, a Black developmentally disabled classmate who grew up with him in Ohio. Meyer-Crothers said Miller frequently called him the N-word and "brownie" during years of harassment.
In the Bruins' press release announcing their decision to part ways with the defenseman, Neely said the team was under the impression that Miller's bullying of Meyer-Crothers was an "isolated incident." Boston then reversed course "based on new information."
Neely expressed regret that the Bruins didn't contact the Meyer-Crothers family throughout the process and said he now has plans to reach out.
Isaiah's mother, Joni, said in a recent interview with The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa that if the Bruins had spoken with her family, they would have understood Miller's mistreatment of her son wasn't a one-time occurrence.
Neely said he was initially made aware of the team's interest in Miller in August and the signing was "no question" the biggest regret of his career.
"The timing of (the signing) was never probably going to be good," he said. "I think it got down to the point where, 'Are we doing it or not?' And we made the wrong decision."
He added, "I do believe in second chances, but maybe some don't deserve it. I'm not saying that in particular in this situation, but I do believe in second chances."