By Mikhail Bryan
In the fall of 2020, former Arizona Coyotes draft pick Mitchell Miller was notified he was no longer a Coyotes’ prospect. The Coyotes drafted the Ohio native in the fourth round of the 2020 draft that took place earlier that summer. The decision to revoke his rights as a draft pick, announced by Arizona team president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez, was in response to intense criticism the Coyotes were facing after public reports came out against Miller and his history of abuse/bullying as a teenager. Our goal is not to pass judgment on Miller or his mistakes, the Coyotes, or others involved in this process. Instead, we aim to shed light on how different organizations, or people, choose to handle situations that are difficult and lacking (considerable) precedent.
In an earlier article, we discussed the Washington Capitals and the way they chose to handle a situation with Brendan Leipsic in 2020. Essentially, someone leaked Leipsic’s personal messages on Instagram that contained offensive material towards other people, mainly women. The Washington Capitals made the decision to release Leipsic immediately and he has not played in the NHL since. For a full reading of the article, click here.
In Leipsic’s case, the Capital’s decision to cut ties with the player and distance themselves from the situation came swiftly. This is similar to the Coyotes with Miller, who cut ties just months after drafting Miller. The University of North Dakota, where Miller had committed and planned on playing in 2020-2021, also cut ties with him. There was one organization, however, that chose to do things a bit differently than those mentioned above.
TRI-CITY STORM
In comes the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The USHL is the premier junior hockey league in the US. Hundreds of former Division I and NHL players are USHL alumni. The league stretches as far east as Youngstown, OH and as far west as Kearney, NE (where Tri-City plays). Miller played for Tri-City during the 2019-2020 season, the same year he was drafted. After not playing competitively for a year (2020-2021 season), Tri-City Storm Head Coach and President of Hockey Operations Anthony Noreen made the decision to bring Miller back for the 2021-2022 season.
In an interview with local media, Noreen stated he knew Miller well from his time with the Storm and from coaching USA at the World Junior A Championships. Miller was a member of that team. Noreen went on to say, “We believe in this kid, we don’t think this is the end-all-be-all of his story…We put a plan together in place for his personal development, off-ice community service, diversity training, mental health stuff for himself personally as far as people to talk to.”
Noreen decided to move forward beyond Miller’s past mistakes.
This decision by Noreen appears to have been beneficial for Miller as a person, as well as a player. Miller went on to have a historic season in the USHL. Miller amassed 39 goals and 44 assists for 83 points in only 60 games played. On top of that, Miller recorded a league-best plus/minus of +43. These on-ice accomplishments led to Miller being named a First-Team All Star, USHL Defenseman of the Year and USHL Player of the Year. To put that into perspective, recent USHL Player of the Year winners include current NHLers such as F Kyle Connor (Winnipeg), D Brandon Montour (Florida) and F Blake Coleman (Calgary).
RESPONSE
While some people may have an issue with Miller being granted a second chance, I believe that people from all walks of life deserve second opportunities. As cliche as it sounds, none of us are perfect. Most of us have made more than our fair share of mistakes. We tend to view our own mistakes as less egregious than others. And conversely view others’ mistakes as more egregious than our own. While not everyone bullied someone as a teenager, I believe many people did things as teenagers that our adult selves would not be proud of – and would even be ashamed of if it were known publicly. For this reason, Noreen and Tri-City granting Miller a second chance represents a rare situation in today’s society where a non-celebrity or non-professional was granted a true second chance.
Noreen summarized this perfectly in the aforementioned interview, going on to say “This is what our league exists for, this is what, to me, coaching exists for, this is what leadership exists for. Not to have a final ruling and judgment on someone for what they did in the past, but let’s try and help them be better suited for the future.” As a coach, I found his words to be refreshingly candid and spot on. Coaches (should) strive to make their players better as people and athletes, and for that matter all leaders (should) do this. To have an opportunity such as Noreen did, where he could make a positive impact on a young person’s life and change them for the better – I believe that to be the highest calling of coaching and education.
CONCLUSION
The approach that Noreen and Tri-City took is much different than that of the Washington Capitals, Arizona Coyotes and the University of North Dakota. With different teams, levels and leagues come different expectations, standards and practices. Teams in the NHL, compared to the USHL or even NCAA, have different priorities and stakeholders. This most certainly affects the outcomes of situations such as this. Again, we are not pointing the finger at Washington, Arizona or UND; or saying they did it wrong. Instead we are pointing out another option, the path sometimes less traveled. One that requires resiliency and a clear sense of purpose that will weather criticism and public backlash.
To finish, I’d like to quote Coach Noreen one last time – as I believe he possesses the mindset that coaches, teachers, and educators should adopt if they have not already…“Maybe that’s just the way I’m built mentally…I’m an optimist. I believe that people can change, I believe that people can grow. If we didn’t believe in that, what’s the purpose of sports? What’s the purpose of what we do in life? If you can’t get better and you can’t grow and learn from your mistakes – no matter how horrible they are.”
