Bruins hire independent firm to review vetting process for Mitchell Miller signing

The Boston Bruins have hired a law firm to review their vetting process for signing defenseman Mitchell Miller.

Miller's original signing sparked controversy because he was guilty of assaulting a former classmate with developmental disabilities and also calling him racial slurs. The Bruins released Miller two days after signing him after learning "new information."

"The Boston Bruins strive every day to live our values and meet the high standards our associates, fans and community have come to expect," the team said in a statement. 

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"This includes treating everyone inside and outside our organization with dignity and respect. We recently fell short of our high standards and disappointed both ourselves and many in our community. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that our values are reflected in everything we do as an organization, including our process for vetting future players.

"As part of this commitment, the Boston Bruins have retained an experienced and respected team of professionals, led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, to conduct an independent review of our player-vetting process. This will help us ensure that our process going forward reflects our core values. The Bruins organization will fully cooperate with the independent review team and will publicly disclose the results of the review upon its completion."

Upon signing Miller, the Bruins said they had not contacted Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, Miller's former classmate, or his family in their vetting process, which "was concerning" to team president Cam Neely. Neely said the team "failed" in its process.

Even team captain Patrice Bergeron was "on the fence" about the signing.

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"I was on the fence. I think, as a person, but also as a team, I think we stand for integrity and inclusion and diversity, obviously," Bergeron told SportsNet in Canada earlier this month. "That was the first thing that came out of my mouth. It goes against what we are as a culture and as a team and, for me, as a person.'

Miller said in a statement when he signed that he "made an extremely poor decision and acted very immaturely," adding that he "deeply regret[s] the incident" and "strive[s] to be a better person." Despite his public and private apologies, Meyer-Crothers is standing firm that Miller "isn't my friend."

Meyer-Crothers noted that it was not an isolated incident with Miller, adding that Miller had bullied him since the first grade.

"I’m disappointed that we’re in this position, we shouldn’t be in this position. We could’ve done a better job. We should’ve done a better job," Neely said last week. "Again, I want to apologize on behalf of the Boston Bruins organization, on behalf of myself. It was a decision we didn’t take lightly, and I’ll go back to the fact that I felt, based on everything I knew, he deserved a second chance."

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Miller pleaded guilty at the age of 14 to one count of assault and violating the Ohio Safe Schools Act. He is now a free agent, but NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said he is "not eligible" to play in the league.