The Boston Bruins have hired a law firm to review how they vet players, the team announced Tuesday, in the aftermath of signing, then cutting ties with, a player who'd been convicted of bullying as a teenager.
Former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is leading the team of lawyers from the firm Paul, Weiss, the Bruins announced.
"This will help us ensure that our process going forward reflects our core values, the team said in a statement, adding that the organization will cooperate with the review and will share its results when it's complete.
The team also said it is "committed to ensuring" its players are vetted following the Bruins' values of treating all people with dignity and respect:
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The Boston Bruins strive every day to live our values and meet the high standards our associates, fans and community have come to expect. 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.
The Bruins' signing of defenseman Mitchell Miller — and lack of outreach to the person he'd bullied, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, who is Black and has developmental disabilities, or the NHL as they considered taking on the player — has embroiled the team in scandal. They cut ties with Miller several days later and apologized to the victim's family.
Last week, Meyer-Crothers spoke out, insisting he's not friends with Miller and saying that, since the scandal was dredged up by the Bruins' signing, he's faced new abuse.
Meyer-Crothers wrote in the letter that he is now getting messages on social media from people who call him racist, derogatory names and say that he needs help. The letter was released in edited form Wednesday by the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a two-year-old diversity advocacy group founded by current and former professional hockey players, and verified with NBC10 Boston by Meyer-Crothers' mother.
Meyer-Crothers also recounted Miller reaching out to him last month over direct message on social media to make an apology, but says Miller didn’t give any proof that he’s helping in the community as a way to make amends, as his agent has said he has been doing.
"Mitchell isn't my friend. It hurts my heart what he did to me," Meyer-Crothers said in the letter, ending it, "I can't take more of this."
Miller's agent didn't respond to a request for comment about the letter.
Miller pleaded guilty at age 14 to one count of assault and one count of violation of the Ohio Safe Schools Act. He and another teenager were accused of making Meyer-Crothers eat a candy push pop after wiping it in a bathroom urinal, and surveillance video showed them kicking and punching him. The 20-year-old was selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2020 NHL Draft but was let go by the team after a news story was published about the bullying conviction.
Meyer-Crothers' mother has called Miller "a monster," telling NBC10 Boston he racially bullied her adopted son for years.
The Bruins aren't the only local sports team to bring in outside lawyers to review their processes. In September, the Celtics announced that they'd brought in a firm to investigate a "potential situation" involving coach Ime Udoka, who was suspended for a year when the investigation was complete.
