No kid has a right to play in the NHL. As with OG above, I’d want nothing to do with him. We’re getting a glimpse of Leipsic but earlier on.
You can’t take away something the kid never had. But the kid can most certainly alter his future based on his actions.
And for all those saying “he was 14... why should his actions then derail his future career?” Accountability! My 14 year old is accountable for his actions. He “gets” it. He isn’t perfect but he knows accountable for his actions and the results of those actions. Good or bad.
And flash forward 4 years... sounds like THIS kid still has no desire to “make it right” or be accountable. He’s an adult now. No excuses. Now it’s a question of character.
Let him pound the pavement to get a job out of a spotlight ... and he can feed his ego by being the best player on his beer league team, or rather beer league teams as I suspect His character may get him bumped from one or two of those teams.
Feels like this has sort of run it's course.
12 team Yahoo Roto keeper (keep 3)
9 F, 6 D; roster 3 G max
G,A,PPP,SOG,BLKS,HITS - W,SO,SV%,Saves
F: B Tkachuk, Stutzle, Eriksson Ek, Necas, Konecny, Cooley, Boldy, Lehkonen, Tippett
D: Dahlin, Seider, Matheson, Durzi, Addison, Mintyukov
G: Hill, Husso
IR:
Bench: L Hughes, Merzlikins, Terry, Tuch
When I first heard of this story, I was of two minds. First, absolutely sickening acts of cowardice on Miller's part, I'm sorry I don't care if you're 14 or 8, if you don't realize that bullying, hurling racial slurs and insults and physically assaulting a mentally challenged individual is wrong, you either have a) shit parents, b) are a lil psychopath.
That being said, is it fair to hold someone accountable for the rest of their life for their actions in their past...
Well, after digging more into this story, yes, yes it is, when that someone shows no remorse, no contrition, the only thing they are sorry for is the fact that they got caught and punished, not that they actually feel remorse for the acts the committed. This PoS has entitlement written all over him, the fact this went on for 7 years, never personally apologized to the victim...red flags all over the place.
Parents should be ashamed of themselves as well, if my child were to ever do such heinous acts, you bet your ass that pulling him out of "recreational activities" would be on the list of disciplinary actions if he didn't cut this shit out and atone/apologize.
Don't give me any garbage about how the kid had talent and would be hurting his future, I'm more concerned about the type of character my child will have as an adult rather then some dreams of NHL stardom.
7 years this person bullied, intimidated, harassed, physically, mentally and emotionally abused one of society's most vulnerable...and shows no remorse.
Psychopath red flags raised, huge pass.
12 Team Dynasty League. $4 increase per player a year FP/ reduced salary for 3 years, Keep 8-12 (League Champion 14/15, 16/17, 19/20, 22/23)
Categories - D-G, G, A, PPP, SHP, SoG, Hits/Blocks, FoW, FoW%, Give/Take, Wins, GAA, Save%, Saves.
C: Tavares $33, Eichel $16 (1st yr FP), Trocheck $18, Jenner $9 Beniers $2 (1st yr RC)
W: Ovechkin $18, Hintz $17, Pavelski $11, Zacha $10, Kaprizov $7, Johnston $2 (1st yr RC), Reichel $2 (1st yr RC), Bertuzzi $1, Tippet $1
D: Burns $20, Jones $17, Werenski $16 (2nd yr FP), Matheson $5, Spurgeon $1, OEL $1
G: Shesterkin $7, Sorokin $3 (2nd yr RC), Raanta $1
MLP Bench: Rossi, Nazar, Kovalenko, Nikishin, Morrow, Ivanov
Nailed it.
I looked a little more into it as well. Not just "A bullying Incident" which Miller stated in his apology speech, but premeditated multiple incidents. Tricking this poor kid to lick candy that was thrown in a Urinal to Physically Assaulting the kid. I'd be embarrassed to have anything to do with drafting him. NHL isn't a right. It's SO hard to actually break through into the NHL. Character should definitely play a role. Just another Mark on the Arizona franchise IMO.
Imagine what he's done that wasn't reported/caught.
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
Yeah, this pretty much captured my feelings pretty well. Except while you say the parents should be ashamed of themselves, in a lot of cases the parents are the root cause of the issue. Kids learn this shit from somebody, or at the very least they don't get disciplined hard enough for when they learn it on their own.
Goalies: If I'm pickin em you best be sittin em!
I was bullied on the school bus by older kids. For years. Many were. By kids around Miller's age.
Forced to play knuckles, having my head slammed against the window by someone behind me.
And I often had mandatory recess fights - actual bareknuckle fist fights.
I don't have an ill thought about any of them. None of it.
If I saw them today, we'd probably have a beer and laugh about it all.
It's called resilience.
It's a good thing to develop.
Now before you rush to put words in my mouth - "he says bullying is ok!!!" "It's acceptable behaviour!!!" - consider this:
You don't know Mitchell Miller. You don't know the first thing about him.
He may very well be a monster.
But he may very well be far less, someone the Coyotes obviously thought could balance the scale (or better) for his past wrongdoings.
None of us know the right approach for someone like this.
I'm just not sure cancelling someone over his youthful actions is the answer.
I know this - cancelling someone for posing the question (or disgustingly implying that he's only defending Miller because of racism) - well, that seems really strange. If you can't even have the discussion, then stuff like this will never be understood.
Honestly, I think the Yotes just saw it as an opportunity to bring talent into their organization. They lost a bunch of picks because of trades/penalty, so they saw this as a chance to get a 2nd round talent in the 4th round.
Bullying has a high chance at effecting mental health down the road. I was bullied and it effected me through depression, confidence issues, and anxiety. There's plenty of studies that show mental health and bullying are connected. There's studies that even show people who bully are at a higher risk for substance use, aggressive behaviour, and problems at school.
Eating disorders, OCD, PTSD, substance abuse, anxiety issues, can all happen due to bullying. You can't just "power through" eating disorders or substance abuse. Anxiety and confidence issues are something that can be dragged out your whole life because of bullying.
Bullying effects mental health and studies are still happening about how it effects people 30+yrs old because, people who are that old were growing up in a time where bullying was just a thing. And you had to just power through it.
If someone can have a beer with their bully and be ok. Great on you, it didn't effect you. Can I have a beer with the bully who physically assaulted me, mentally abused me, and had people make fun of me all because my last named rhymed with a word people have no control over? No. I can't just let them think they didn't mess me up.
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
Were you a young black 14 year old child who was mentally delayed by 4 years to his peers when experiencing "knuckles" and "Participating in School yard fights? Were you tricked into putting candy into your mouth that was tossed into a urinal before? Do you know what it's like to be "resilient" as a Young Black Mentally Delayed child? If so, then my heart goes out to you AW. But either way, It concerns me that you seem to be far more passionate for the perpetrator of the bullying than considering the impacts of the victim.