Prospect Info: 2020 Draft #111 - Mitchell Miller (RHD) [Mod Warning post #312]

[rt]

The main thing in that story that stuck out to me is that the other boy implicated in the bullying apologized in person, and it seems it was appreciated by the victim’s family.

If Miller has grown and changed for the better, and he sees that the victims appear now to be open to an in-person apology, he should arrange that as soon as he possibly can.

 

[macleish1974]

Miller never apologized to the kid. Their is apparently a sickening and shocking video of the incident. The kid did not want to send the video to the Arizona Independent newspaper because it would be embarrassing to him and inflame Coyote fans for their management's stupidity and their management for encouraging racism. Should be interesting if he makes it and comes to Philly......wonder what it would have been like with Simmonds in his prime with Miller on the ice at the same time.

 

[JasonDemersWasOkay]

Why did it have to be us? Why can't this team just be normal for once. Draft literally anyone else? You have hundreds of players you can choose from and you're already dealing with the whole draft scandal and you just HAVE to pick someone that embarrasses the organization and fanbase even more. Being a fan of this organization is a curse.

 

[TheLegend]

I’m just annoyed that Azcentral is just now coming out with this hit piece. Like why did this take a couple weeks for you to have this take. Don’t get me wrong, they deserve this hit piece because this is an annoying pick. But why did the righteousness from azcentral take weeks to heat up to this

Because it’s Craig Harris.

He did a podcast with Rich Morin a few weeks ago that was touted as a tell all on the Chayka/Coyotes scrap and it ended up with Harris spewing the same stuff we all already knew about with a tiny bit of innuendo thrown in suggesting Chayka was probably fed up with the way ownership was “micromanaging” him. Which nobody really knows for sure but it makes good copy.

In a nutshell... he didn’t know jack squat.

It’s the same with this. Only now they toss the race card in with it.

 

[Sm00chy]

inflame Coyote fans for their management's stupidity and their management for encouraging racism.

Not sure I agree with this portion of your statement. I think the Coyotes made it very clear in their statement that they are against racism and this type of action. They have decided to take it upon the organization to try and teach and educate the player.

I think we can all agree what he did was horrible and there is no place for that in the world....but to say the Coyotes encourage racism is just simply not true.

 

[GuelphStormer]

I have to wonder if the Yotes executives would be so willing to take this little darling under their wings if he had assaulted a disabled hispanic kid for years and how that might have played to the franchise's target fanbase. Dangerous decision here.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

The thing that worries me about this article isn't the story itself - we already knew all of the details already about Miller's "peccadillos" - but the absolute lack of any engagement about it except for canned statements from the Coyotes.

I mean, it's classic crisis management strategy, and it's not like the two reporters are "trusted" like Craig. But still, there's more to this lurking under the surface, and from Bill Armstrong's statement I'm not certain he was happy with the pick himself.

 

[Kcb12345]

I feel bad for all of you Yotes fans. These past few months have just been so f***ed up for yall

 

[The Feckless Puck]

I feel bad for all of you Yotes fans. These past few months have just been so f***ed up for yall

SNAFU

 

[Name Nameless]

Why did it have to be us? Why can't this team just be normal for once. Draft literally anyone else? You have hundreds of players you can choose from and you're already dealing with the whole draft scandal and you just HAVE to pick someone that embarrasses the organization and fanbase even more. Being a fan of this organization is a curse.

I suspect this was partly due to the lack of high picks. Both this draft, and next. Here a player fell massively due to something he did when he was 14. He was, in a way, the only first (or perhaps second, I haven't read up to say) rounder left.

 

[Crazy Cizikas]

Why did it have to be us? Why can't this team just be normal for once. Draft literally anyone else? You have hundreds of players you can choose from and you're already dealing with the whole draft scandal and you just HAVE to pick someone that embarrasses the organization and fanbase even more. Being a fan of this organization is a curse.

I don’t think you would have drafted him was it not for the sanctions. This was the Yotes trying to salvage talent from this draft by ignoring prior sociopathic behavior and hoping for the best. I’d have put him on the dnd list, but the Yotes needed to leave the draft with talent because of the draft scandal.

 

[TheLegend]

I have to wonder if the Yotes executives would be so willing to take this little darling under their wings if he had assaulted a disabled hispanic kid for years and how that might have played to the franchise's target fanbase. Dangerous decision here.

They might have or they might have not.

What’s going to matter now is how this all unfolds going forward. If Miller proves himself a changed person then it’s all the better. If not, then they can say they tried to make a change in the kid’s life but it didn’t work out.

 

[TheLegend]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/arizona-coyotes-prospect-1.5777351

 

[BUX7PHX]

I suspect this was partly due to the lack of high picks. Both this draft, and next. Here a player fell massively due to something he did when he was 14. He was, in a way, the only first (or perhaps second, I haven't read up to say) rounder left.

There is likely no question about the talent that the player can bring. My question becomes the idea of what types of decisions are going to be expected out of this kid? In the heat of the moment, is he the guy who gets a match penalty and banned for 30 games because he uses a racial taunt? Is he the guy that will make it a point only go after smaller players on the ice, or just be an unwilling dick, in general? Imagine being a rookie and having this kid in his 3rd rookie camp be your "mentor" if he hasn't learned how to not be a sociopath?

Not saying people can't change, or are incapable of change, but I do think it speaks to if the person is capable of using sound judgment consistently. Because how do you trust someone to do the right thing on ice if this is what they did do off of it?

 

[GuelphStormer]

They might have or they might have not.

What’s going to matter now is how this all unfolds going forward. If Miller proves himself a changed person then it’s all the better. If not, then they can say they tried to make a change in the kid’s life but it didn’t work out.

and that's basically what they are saying, no? the less than charitable way of looking at it is that they knew but didn't think the kid's actions were disqualifying. perhaps they do have love in their hearts and this will turn out to be a great story. but what a risk to take, to draft a kid guilty of juvenile hate crimes. PR nightmare with few spin options, yikes.

 

[AZviaNJ]

There is likely no question about the talent that the player can bring. My question becomes the idea of what types of decisions are going to be expected out of this kid? In the heat of the moment, is he the guy who gets a match penalty and banned for 30 games because he uses a racial taunt? Is he the guy that will make it a point only go after smaller players on the ice, or just be an unwilling dick, in general? Imagine being a rookie and having this kid in his 3rd rookie camp be your "mentor" if he hasn't learned how to not be a sociopath?

Not saying people can't change, or are incapable of change, but I do think it speaks to if the person is capable of using sound judgment consistently. Because how do you trust someone to do the right thing on ice if this is what they did do off of it?

It will always be part of his story and he'll need to deal with the repercussions throughout the rest of his hockey career. He's basically getting a second chance and will need to prove that not only in this behind him, but also show himself to be an exemplary person, teammate and a pretty good hockey player, all at the same time.

I would hope he also reaches out to the victim and his family ASAP, if they're open to meeting with him. If he doesn't that will speak volumes.

 

[rt]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/arizona-coyotes-prospect-1.5777351

Miller issued a statement through the Coyotes.

"I am extremely sorry about the bullying incident that occurred in 2016 while I was in eighth grade. I was young, immature and feel terrible about my actions. At the time, I did not understand the gravity of my actions and how they can affect other people. I have issued an apology to the family for my behavior, completed cultural diversity and sensitivity training and volunteered within my community with organizations such as Little Miracles," he said.

"Over the past four years, I have had a lot of time to reflect and grow and I am very grateful to the Arizona Coyotes for taking a chance on me. I promise not to let them down. Moving forward, I want to be a leader for this cause and help end bullying and racism."

He's either lying to serve his own self-interest, or he's telling the truth and could be a nice redemption story. It might be a case of all that's wrong with sports or all that's great about sports. I guess we'll see. More likely, though, he's never good enough to make a compelling story of this, and has a mediocre NCAA career and never even earns a contract with the Coyotes.

 

[Name Nameless]

Well, I'm will not be the one who writes "Welcome to Arizona", but that's just because I'm still that weird guy in Norway. I hope some of you others say it though. Move forwards. Let him show he means it. And I do hope he makes it, in every respect.

 

[rt]

 

[SniperHF]

They'll get pressure. It would be pretty ridiculous for them to cut him loose after knowing full well the details of the story.

Also the "unfortunate incident" language is pretty dumb from a PR perspective. He was convicted in a juvenile court that rises above "unfortunate incident", UND will get some shit for that. Whoever wrote the statement needs practice.

 

[KG]

Why is this blowing up today again and not when he was drafted lol. Slow news day. This is all rehash, yes?

 

[macleish1974]

Fk North Dakota and their university. It is a lousy at academics; not anything like U of A. ( my oldest daughter is a grad ; she loved Tucson.....ok so I am biased...) Everything is rotten in that State; a state that allows you to kill feral cats at will except the yahoos wind up killing Aunt Suzie's yellow tabby......the Flyers had enough of their past HC as our HC.

 

[Mosby]

I don't really like how Friedman presented this. Like he shared the Doan news just so he could share this too. Dumping on the Coyotes is easy clicks.

That aside, whole thing could have been avoided. A guy like Villeneuve was taken a few picks later and I can't imagine there is a huge talent gap between the two. Plus there is no stupid with Villeneuve.

Whole thing just reeks of Hofford's list. He doesn't have any character so why should his players.

I doubt we sign this guy.

 

[TheLegend]

Cat Silverman posted out on Twitter that every scouting service/combine KNEW about his situation and only one flagged him as “do not draft”.

Which means ALL the teams knew about him prior to the draft. So this didn’t sneak up on anyone.

 

[TheLegend]

I don't really like how Friedman presented this. Like he shared the Doan news just so he could share this too. Dumping on the Coyotes is easy clicks.

That aside, whole thing could have been avoided. A guy like Villeneuve was taken a few picks later and I can't imagine there is a huge talent gap between the two. Plus there is no stupid with Villeneuve.

Whole thing just reeks of Hofford's list. He doesn't have any character so why should his players.

I doubt we sign this guy.

Hofford didn’t draft him. Everyone knew about him so you can’t point fingers.