NHL says Boston Bruins prospect Mitchell Miller might never be eligible to play in league

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins presumably signed defenseman Mitchell Miller despite all of his history so that he might help the hockey team win games. Yet in a bit of a twist to the story on Saturday, it turns out that Miller does not currently have that ability -- and he might not ever be given that chance.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to the media on Saturday from Finland, and he was asked about the Bruins' recent signee, whose draft rights were renounced by the Arizona Coyotes in 2020 when it was revealed that Miller had spent years bullying a classmate with developmental disabilities.

Bettman said that the Bruins did not consult him before making the signing, that Miller is not currently eligible to play in the NHL, and that the league does not have any plans to let Miller play.

"He's not coming into the NHL," Bettman definitively stated. "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, in fact, at some point, they think they want him to play in the NHL -- and I'm not sure that they're anywhere close to that point -- we're going to have to clear him and his eligibility. And it'll be based on all the information that we get firsthand at the time."

Bettman added that he has spoken to Bruins president Cam Neely since the signing was made, and that the Bruins now know that Miller has no status in the NHL.

"So the answer is they were free to sign him to play somewhere else -- that's another league's issue," Bettman said. "But nobody should think, at this point, he is or may ever be NHL-eligible. And the Bruins understand that now."

Bettman was asked specifically what it would take for Miller to earn NHL eligibility, given his past.

"I would need to see a whole bunch of things and understand a lot more firsthand than I do now anecdotally," Bettman said.

With Miller only being 20 years old, he wasn't necessarily expected to be NHL-ready now or in the short term. But his eligibility to play in the AHL appears to be murky as well.

Hockey writer Sean Shapiro tweeted that he contacted the AHL and that the minor league said that Miller's status is "fluid" at the moment.

In 2016, Miller was convicted in juvenile court of engaging in behavior that ranged from physically assaulting his developmentally disabled classmate to forcing the classmate to lick a piece of candy that had been in a urinal. Miller also used abusive language toward the classmate, including the use of the N-word. Neely referred to Miller's behavior as a "mistake" when the team announced the signing on Friday. The mother of the boy who was bullied told WBZ-TV that the treatment took place over years and that Miller never apologized to her son until last week, via Instagram.

The signing has, naturally, brought about significant backlash from fans of the organization. And according to Gary Bettman, the Bruins might have brought all of that criticism upon themselves for a player who might never be eligible to play in the NHL.

UPDATE: Bruins president Cam Neely announced Sunday night that the team is parting ways with Miller, citing "new information."