Coyotes' 'top' (4th round) draft pick of 2020 was a convict four years ago for bullying.

[-DLC-]

18 minutes ago, Virtanen#18 said:

The header of this thread can use some updating... Bullying is evil enough... But to add racism to it...  That's Trump level scum!! 

A developmentally challenged young man too!  Hits to the core.

 

I grew up in a neighbourhood where an Asian (matters...because racism does factor in) boy who suffered from developmental challenges was constantly bullied, harassed, chased home and even beat up at times.  He lived two houses away from me.  He'd run away/home, calling "Mama".  It broke my heart.

 

Everyone called him a name (related to the fact that his nose often ran) and it stuck over the years....it just morphed into his name, over time.  Some even consider it a term of endearment now (I don't).   I always called him by his name, because he deserved respect just like the rest of us.  I stood up for him whenever I saw it happening.  Even some of my female friends joined in...it made me sick.  Not that I'm any better than anyone else...but I've always hated cruelty.

 

Thing is...young people do dumb things but the expectation is that, over time, they mature/learn/grow up.  If they continue to bully and get their kicks this way, chances are it's going to be embedded (to some degree) and likely cause them as many issues as their victims.  Too late to be sorry at that point. 

 

The boy I speak of became a bit of a neighbourhood icon over time as people did grow up.  

 

"D" loves sports - I often see him at Lions & Canucks games as well as the track.  He enjoys a great conversation and if you look past what makes him different you get to see that he's very much the same as you and I.  

 

I just saw a segment on Joey Moss.  It makes me think that the bullies are the challenged ones, not the targets that they view as 'weak' who show more resilience and strength than they ever do.  Given a chance, these people can become productive members of society with so much to contribute.  Don't know that some of the bullies ever will.....

 

I know nothing about Miller...hope he, too, grows up to see the light and become a better person.  And my heart aches for the target of his bullying...that likely will stick forever.

[Roger Neilsons Towel]

It boggles my mind that the Coyotes already didn’t have their first, second, and third round picks, and then they wasted their fourth round pick on a player that they now have been pressured into renouncing. What a joke of an organization. Pure stupidity. 

[Quantum]

Good news!

 

https://www.tsn.ca/arizona-coyotes-renounce-rights-to-draft-pick-mitchell-miller-1.1545422

 

Arizona renounced the rights to Mitchell Miller.

 

Arizona should not be given credit for this decision. They only did this because they got caught.

[flat land fish]

I have some mixed feelings on this.  This is the very definition of cancel culture.  You have a young guy at 14 did something heinous.  He faced consequences at the time. I haven’t read about subsequent behaviour.  Disclosed to the teams he had a past major incident prior to the draft.  Gets picked and the cancel mob comes out.

 

if it were my team and I was gm I very likely wouldn’t have selected him but every team had the opportunity to decide if his current character was such that they would bring him into the organization.

 

where does this end? At what point don’t you get a chance to improve?  I had a 10 year old on my hockey team last year get a racial slur hurled at him.  We dealt with it and both teams learned from it.  Do we track that kid down now and torpedo him from playing organized activities and banish him to a salt mine in Siberia somewhere?  Especially with minors some consideration should be placed on growing and improving. How would you feel if it were your kid?

[CaptKirk888]

22 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

 

 

 

Not sure of the validity of this (found it on Twitter).   

https://www.rawcharge.com/2020/10/28/21537569/lightning-round-mother-of-bullying-abuse-victim-pens-letter-to-arizona-coyotes-mitchell-miller

Lightning Round: Mother of bullying victim pens letter to Arizona Coyotes, Mitchell Miller

11

She is still looking for an apology and signs of remorse for her son.

By HardevLad@HardevLad  Oct 28, 2020, 7:00am EDT

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GLENDALE, ARIZONA - OCTOBER 07: Assistant general manager Steve Sullivan of the Arizona Coyotes attends rounds 2-7 of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft at Gila River Arena on October 07, 2020 in Glendale, Arizona. The 2020 NHL Draft was held virtually due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  Photo by River Demson/NHLI via Getty Images

To put it plainly, the Arizona Coyotes knew that their top draft pick had admitted in court to bullying a developmentally disabled Black classmate, knew he had not shown any signs of remorse from those heinous acts, and drafted him in the fourth round anyway.

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Arizona Coyotes top draft pick was convicted for bullying Black teen with disabilities

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In 2016, Miller was sentenced by a juvenile court for assault and violating the Ohio Safe Schools act due to his bullying and abusing of Isaiah Meyer-Crothers. He pretended to be Isaiah’s friend, coerced him to do things, including lick a candy push pop that Miller had wiped in a bathroom urinal, called him racial slurs, and reportedly smashed his head against a wall for good measure. During the trial, while Miller’s accomplice had apologized and shown tangible signs of remorse, Miller showed none. He never apologized to Isaiah, though he did pen an apology to the NHL teams he was hoping to be employed by, like they needed it.

Isaiah’s mom, Joni, wrote a letter to the Coyotes after they drafted Miller. It was then shared with The Athletic.

Not only was Mitchell Miller drafted by the Coyotes, but he has a scholarship to the University of North Dakota, a school that also knew about the past he has yet to apologize for. There are so many parts to this story, and they get worse and worse the more we learn. He never apologized, the judge wrote in his statement that Miller never showed any sign of remorse during the trial, only wishing for it to be over for his own sake. Two years after the trial, Miller was caught intimidating Isaiah from the street in their neighborhood. So he bullied and abused a Black classmate with developmental disabilities at 14, sentenced by a court of law for his actions, intimidated his victim at 16, and didn’t apologize to the person he traumatized, but instead to a hopeful employer.

Miller has insisted to the Coyotes and UND that he’s become a better person and that he’s changed. They’re the only ones he needs to convince for him to move forward in his career. But those statements ring hollow when his words and his actions are diametrically opposed. No apology, no remorse, no reparations. He doesn’t care about making amends, he only cares about keeping the privilege that leads to an NHL job and a university education. And let’s be clear, playing in the NHL is a privilege, not a right.

The Arizona Coyotes failed here. The University of North Dakota failed here. They knew everything that happened and it didn’t change their mind. They knew those letters of self improvement were self-serving, and it didn’t change their mind. The Coyotes knew drafting him would be a permanent stain on their efforts for inclusivity and diversity, but it didn’t change their mind. Mitchell Miller failed here. Failure doesn’t come with a job and a scholarship. He can’t expect forgiveness at 18 when forgiveness at 14 or 16 was never earned.

[Gurn]

43 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

So what happened between this statement and this morning? If AZ was willing to try to guide this kid into being a decent human that should be applauded. 

The heat got to hot, otherwise the kid would still be a Coyote.

41 minutes ago, skategal said:

I have to question AZ "doing the right thing".  It would seem that they are only renouncing him as a draft pick because of the outcry once his back story became public.  They knew full well going in (as did every other team) what the story was.  Imagine the scrambling in their management office as they try to stem the tide of poor publicity.  Bit of a joke actually.  Had there been less outcry, they would not have had a sudden awakening of moral values.  

Plus 1

[mll]

8 minutes ago, Quantum said:

[...]

 

Arizona is one of the worst run franchises in sports. They picked Mitchell Miller because they saw a 2nd round calibre player fall to the 4th round. They didn't care about culture and character. They care about value. Steve Sullivan, Xavier Guieitterez, Ryan Jankowski, Bill Armstrong, and the rest of the team who made the pick/backed him up should be ashamed of themselves. You can make an argument that UND should also be held accountable for giving Mitchell Miller a full ride scholarship too. And saying things like "we hope our culture will make him better" is so stupid. Culture is passive. It's doing the least amount of work and hoping for the best result. It's stupid and anyone who throws that out there should wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner of the classroom. If I was the owner of the Coyotes, I'd tell that entire management team they're all on thin ice. It's embarrassing what's happening and I wouldn't be shocked if we see major turnover in there front office (yet again) within the next year over stuff like this.

 

[...]

 

Bill Armstrong was not allowed to participate in the draft as part of the agreement with St Louis for his early release.  It's Jankowski that ran the draft for Arizona.   

[flat land fish]

Dany Heatley and Craig McTavish both have vehicular homicide convictions on their record ie. their negligence ended the life of another human being and carried on with their careers.  Would they have been allowed by society to do the same in 2020?

[Ghostsof1915]

16 minutes ago, flat land fish said:

Dany Heatley and Craig McTavish both have vehicular homicide convictions on their record ie. their negligence ended the life of another human being and carried on with their careers.  Would they have been allowed by society to do the same in 2020?

Once again, I'm in favour of people getting second chances when they make a bad mistake. Provided of course they learn from it, and are remorseful, and use the oppourtunity to improve themselves and others, and give back to the community. However, if you hide behind lawyers, and refuse to try and correct the problem. Karma will usually bite you big time. 

[canuck2288]

Nice to see Arizona came to its senses .... or more likely was “told” to come to their senses 

 

see ya you racist entitled bully 

 

hope your career at minimum wage works out for you 

 

think twice next time 

[BPA]

33 minutes ago, flat land fish said:

I have some mixed feelings on this.  This is the very definition of cancel culture.  You have a young guy at 14 did something heinous.  He faced consequences at the time. I haven’t read about subsequent behaviour.  Disclosed to the teams he had a past major incident prior to the draft.  Gets picked and the cancel mob comes out.

 

if it were my team and I was gm I very likely wouldn’t have selected him but every team had the opportunity to decide if his current character was such that they would bring him into the organization.

 

where does this end? At what point don’t you get a chance to improve?  I had a 10 year old on my hockey team last year get a racial slur hurled at him.  We dealt with it and both teams learned from it.  Do we track that kid down now and torpedo him from playing organized activities and banish him to a salt mine in Siberia somewhere?  Especially with minors some consideration should be placed on growing and improving. How would you feel if it were your kid?

Your example is a one time thing. 

 

What Mitchell did was 9 years of bullying/torment of a mentally challenged kid.

 

Not exactly the same in terms of length of depravity. 

 

And really...did Mitchell really learn from it???  A court order mandated apology and court ordered community service screams that he did what he had to do to get out of trouble. 

 

Honestly, I blame the parents.  Poor parenting is probably the root of the problem. 

[Caboose]

39 minutes ago, flat land fish said:

Dany Heatley and Craig McTavish both have vehicular homicide convictions on their record ie. their negligence ended the life of another human being and carried on with their careers.  Would they have been allowed by society to do the same in 2020?

Both seemed to have repented, I believe MacTavish served time no? I think being remorseful is critical in whether or not society is willing to forgive you.

[GhostsOf1994]

On 10/26/2020 at 10:59 AM, Jimmy McGill said:

This is a no-win story. 

 

But I don't know that we really want to live in a society that can't allow a 14 year old to learn from a mistake.

Bullying a kid with developmental health issues is ok?

 

Doing that for most of the kids life?

 

Calling him brownie, the n-word and physically assaulting him is ok?

 

Making the kid think they were friends so he'd eat a lollipop mitchell wiped in a urinal is ok ?

 

Mitchell denying it happened until recently?

 

Mitchell's a liar, a bully, a racist, a sadist... anything else i miss?

 

 

Too bad Reaves or E.Kane will never get to meet Mitchell on the ice 

[DeNiro]

What a Mickey Mouse franchise.

[Patel Bure]

On 10/26/2020 at 10:59 AM, Jimmy McGill said:

This is a no-win story. 

 

But I don't know that we really want to live in a society that can't allow a 14 year old to learn from a mistake.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

What Mitchell did was reprehensible, but that was in 2016.   He seems to have been penalized for his actions at that time unless I'm missing something?   Four years may not seem like a long time, but that's potential for a lot of growth between a 14 year old and an 18 year old.  

[GhostsOf1994]

Just now, DeNiro said:

What a Mickey Mouse franchise.

I was a big fan of Khabibulin as a kid, even had the pads and jersey.

 

The way they handled Doan almost made me want to fly down there and torch the arena.

 

There's something in the water in that there desert

[Patel Bure]

1 hour ago, debluvscanucks said:

A developmentally challenged young man too!  Hits to the core.

 

I grew up in a neighbourhood where an Asian (matters...because racism does factor in) boy who suffered from developmental challenges was constantly bullied, harassed, chased home and even beat up at times.  He lived two houses away from me.  He'd run away/home, calling "Mama".  It broke my heart.

 

Everyone called him a name (related to the fact that his nose often ran) and it stuck over the years....it just morphed into his name, over time.  Some even consider it a term of endearment now (I don't).   I always called him by his name, because he deserved respect just like the rest of us.  I stood up for him whenever I saw it happening.  Even some of my female friends joined in...it made me sick.  Not that I'm any better than anyone else...but I've always hated cruelty.

 

Thing is...young people do dumb things but the expectation is that, over time, they mature/learn/grow up.  If they continue to bully and get their kicks this way, chances are it's going to be embedded (to some degree) and likely cause them as many issues as their victims.  Too late to be sorry at that point. 

 

The boy I speak of became a bit of a neighbourhood icon over time as people did grow up.  

 

"D" loves sports - I often see him at Lions & Canucks games as well as the track.  He enjoys a great conversation and if you look past what makes him different you get to see that he's very much the same as you and I.  

 

I just saw a segment on Joey Moss.  It makes me think that the bullies are the challenged ones, not the targets that they view as 'weak' who show more resilience and strength than they ever do.  Given a chance, these people can become productive members of society with so much to contribute.  Don't know that some of the bullies ever will.....

 

I know nothing about Miller...hope he, too, grows up to see the light and become a better person.  And my heart aches for the target of his bullying...that likely will stick forever.

Many bullies that choose to bully were often victims of bullying or abuse themselves and are lashing out/detoxing negative emotions from inside.   

 

Bullying at any level is wrong however.   

[DeNiro]

1 minute ago, DarkIndianRises said:

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

What Mitchell did was reprehensible, but that was in 2016.   He seems to have been penalized for his actions at that time unless I'm missing something?   Four years may not seem like a long time, but that's potential for a lot of growth between a 14 year old and an 18 year old.  

In my experience bullies on that level don’t tend to ever change. They just get better at pretending to be a better person.

 

Having that kind of character would make me question a lot of things about how he was raised and what kind of people his parents are.

 

He wouldn’t be the first player that wasn’t drafted because of character issues. I don’t know why the Coyotes threw away their highest pick on him. Maybe they thought the NHLs punishment wasn’t enough?

 

 

[Mackcanuck]

[RakuRaku]

1 hour ago, flat land fish said:

I have some mixed feelings on this.  This is the very definition of cancel culture.  You have a young guy at 14 did something heinous.  He faced consequences at the time. I haven’t read about subsequent behaviour.  Disclosed to the teams he had a past major incident prior to the draft.  Gets picked and the cancel mob comes out.

 

if it were my team and I was gm I very likely wouldn’t have selected him but every team had the opportunity to decide if his current character was such that they would bring him into the organization.

 

where does this end? At what point don’t you get a chance to improve?  I had a 10 year old on my hockey team last year get a racial slur hurled at him.  We dealt with it and both teams learned from it.  Do we track that kid down now and torpedo him from playing organized activities and banish him to a salt mine in Siberia somewhere?  Especially with minors some consideration should be placed on growing and improving. How would you feel if it were your kid?

Well not to that extent but the perp kid MUST give the sincerest apology openly so everyone knows he's aware of what kind of damage he had caused!! It is now 2020 and crap like this can't be taken lightly anymore.... and I feel that parents are also responsible!