USHL gives Miller a second chance, then celebrates him
The league had to know there would be blowback in giving a serial bully, albeit a reformed one, its player and defenseman of the year awards
Let’s start with what we know. Well, we know that Mitchell Miller had an outstanding season for the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League, an historic one actually. We know he tied for the league lead in goals with 39 and broke the USHL points record for defensemen in 2021-22, obliterating the record that had been set almost two decades ago, by 18 points. We know Miller’s team saw fit to put forth his name for both the USHL’s defenseman of the year and player of the year awards and we know he got enough support among the USHL’s 15 GMs to win both of them.
We also know that the only reason the 20-year-old Miller was playing in the USHL in the first place was because he had lost his scholarship at the University of North Dakota this season after the hockey world learned that Miller was once a serial bully, tormenting and racially taunting a Black, developmentally disabled classmate for years in primary and middle school. We know he didn’t seem terribly remorseful about it, and that the family of the boy who was bullied was aghast that he was about to be drafted into the NHL. We know the Arizona Coyotes took him 111th overall – with their first pick in the 2020 NHL draft – a decision they later renounced when they dropped him from their protected list and made him a free agent.
Beyond that, what we have no idea about is how the USHL could have read this situation so poorly. Read the room, guys. Certainly the USHL had to be aware when the Storm put Milller’s name up for nomination for those awards that the blowback would be significant. Giving the kid a second chance when he had nowhere else to play is one thing. Being this tone deaf is actually quite remarkable.
“Mitchell Miller was cleared to rejoin the United States Hockey League at the start of the 2021-22 season,” USHL commissioner Bill Robertson said in a statement to Hockey Unfiltered. “Through his performance on the ice this year, he was chosen USHL player and defenseman of the year by our general managers, who vote on our end-of-season awards.” Robertson also added that Miller was “a model citizen on and off the ice” this past season.
There is a contingent out there who believes Miller should never have been in a position to win these awards because he should have been deprived of the privilege of playing anywhere in 2021-22. Which then brings us to the debate about how long someone has to pay for their sins. This was something that happened in middle school and you’d have to think Miller has become a better person since then. And it should be remembered that the USHL and Tri-City Storm were not the first league and team to allow Miller to play, even after knowing about his past. Another team, perhaps even one in the NHL, will likely sign Miller in the future. There will undoubtedly be some who disagree with the sentiment, but a reformed Miller deserves that opportunity.
It’s one thing to give a player who has done something heinously wrong a second chance. After all, Logan Mailloux showed the picture of a girl with whom he’d had consensual sex to his teammates in Sweden and not only was he drafted in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens, he was allowed to play for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League in 2021-22 after serving a 26-game suspension. He was not invited to Montreal’s training camp, so therefore had no chance to make the team, but he did have an opportunity to play.
So while some may be critical of Miller being given a place to play this past season, having his draft rights renounced and losing his scholarship were punishment enough. But it’s quite another thing to recognize that same player as your player and defenseman of the year. In fact, when the league put out a release highlighting the fact that Miller had broken the scoring record for defensemen, Robertson was quoted as saying of Miller and another athlete: “We’re proud of the accomplishments of these wonderful athletes.”
Again, perhaps read the room just a little better.
The league contends that once Miller was cleared to play in the league this season, he should have been just as eligible for awards as any other player. And technically that is true. But it also doesn’t mean the league had to give it to him. For example, by any metric, Pete Rose had a Hall-of-Fame baseball career, but he’s not in the Hall of Fame because he has been banned from both the writers’ and the era committee’s ballot because he’s on the permanently ineligible list. That doesn’t change the fact that he had a great career, nor does it take away any of his World Series wins, his three batting titles, his MVP, three Gold Gloves or his rookie of the year award. He still holds the record for most hits in Major League Baseball. None of that has been expunged. Nor should it be.
So it’s very clear the USHL could have told the Tri-City Storm not to put his name forward for either award and that would have saved the GMs from being put in the position to vote for or against him. What Miller did happened years ago and, yes, he was by all accounts a model citizen this season. He should have been allowed to play and thrive in the USHL this season and take his place in the league’s record book. But to publicly acknowledge him with high-profile awards seems more than a little tone deaf to those who think talented hockey players get a complete pass on their indiscretions just because they can skate and shoot a puck really well.
Stories like this raise so many questions. When a child does something horrifying, disgusting or damaging to another person, what is the best approach towards restoring dignity to the victim and redirecting the perpetrator to a better path? The just answer can not be to damn them to eternal hell before they even have full agency. It may be utter shame or poor character development that prevents Mitchell from effectively showing remorse, but maybe he is psychotic and feels none. Who knows?
Any society that stains a child with a scarlet letter for the remainder of their life without consideration for how that child was led so astray in the first place is no more just than the society that would allow a disabled child to be abused unchecked and uncorrected.
This article made me want to know more about the story. Maybe one day, we will.