Running 2022-23 NHL thread

Can't it really be that he's 20 years old, he was 14 and in middle school when he was convicted in juvenile court, and 2 years have passed since he was drafted and Boston thought the time that had passed made it OK now?

I have no idea if he has done a lot of work on himself over the last 6 years, the way Boston originally said, but at what point will he have to stop paying for doing shitty things when he was in elementary school and middle school?

Because if anyone ever tries to sign him , the same thing is going to happen all over again. The family of the kid he bullied is going to have a problem with it and there is going to be an outcry, so is he essentially blackballed from the NHL now for things he did when he was pretty young? Evander Kane has a job in the NHL, so I find Bettman so disingenuous about this.

I agree with you, although I think one of the other European Leagues might work better for his interests if he can find a spot, than in the wild-west atmosphere of the KHL. He needs a drama-free place to show he can get through a season with his nose clean. I don't know if any of the teams there would do it, but maybe the SHL or LIIGA?

 

The whole story was out there already. We all did stupid things when we were in middle school, but this guy was a complete shit and crossed the line into a level of cruelty that is heartbreaking.

The Bruins are responsible for having signed him, so I am not sure why it is a question beyond doing more "tsk tsks." Everything at this point is about piling on, and frankly the real reason they shouldn't have touched him is that they are off to such a great start that this was a distraction for them right now. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron didn't really need to be answering questions about this. But that team has depleted its prospect pool so much, they simply thought that enough time had passed and this wouldn't create the shitsorm for them that it has. From what I understand, there were several other teams interested including the Red Wings for sure, so it's not like they were completely off in reading the temperature of the room.

Unless you think there are no second chances, the guy deserves to be punished for life, he can't ever play in the NHL, etc. ... they were probably thinking it happened when he was 14 (he is 20 now), he has already paid a price (was drafted and then dropped) and maybe enough time had passed for his second chance.

Isaiah's mom is on a mission to destroy Miller's life and make sure he stays in purgatory, and I am not blaming her at all. ... lord knows if it was my kid, my instincts might take me there too. But at a certain point that can't be the determinent for others in what they do, because even murderers get second chances when they get out of prison. The NHL employs Evander Kane and Tony DeAngelo.

The kid's agent needs to get out in front of it at this point. He tore up the USHL last year and his teammates and coaches all said good things about him. I don't care if the kid is not eloquent. ... unless he comes out and speaks and says the right things, his future hockey career is going down the tubes right before his eyes and the people around him are not helping him right now. They need him to publicly say he's sorry and do even the perfunctory apologies. People will keep piling on, because it makes them feel like they are better people, but at some point, for some team that sees the risk-reward in signing him (and apparently he really can play hockey), it's got to come down to, "You can't punish someone for life for being an asshole when they were in elementary and middle school."

BTW, as for the "he never properly apologized to the family," from what I understand, as part of his sentencing in juvenile court he had to do an apology, and the judge said something about how he seemed more distraught with what might happen to himself as a result of it all than he was really remorseful. But who knows what was going through a 14 year old's head (even a complete shit) in that moment. He was facing the consequences of really bad behavior and he was undoubtedly scared. None of us really know what is in his heart at this point. The idea that he hasn't gone to the family on his knees is unfair, though. For one thing, he was barred from going anywhere near Isaiah, and honestly, from how the mom continues to try to make him pay, would that really have been productive anyhow? There is no undoing what this guy did and the family is going to stay angry no matter. The court set it up so that Isaiah's mom had to sign off on him having met the requirements of his sentence and she did.