The Coyotes "have come under fire for drafting an 18-year old who has admitted to bullying an African American classmate with developmental disabilities," according to Jeremy Cluff of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. Four years ago, Mitchell Miller "admitted in an Ohio juvenile court to bullying." The Coyotes "took Miller with their first pick in the 2020 NHL draft, a fourth-round selection." Coyotes President & CEO Xavier Gutierrez said, "When we first learned of Mitchell’s story, it would have been easy for us to dismiss him -- many teams did. Instead, we felt it was our responsibility to be a part of the solution in a real way -- not just saying and doing the right things ourselves but ensuring that others are too" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/27). In Phoenix, Harris & Romero write the Coyotes chose Miller one month after Gutierrez "was named to the NHL's Executive Inclusion Council, a group the league said will focus on combating racism and fostering diversity in the sport." The team "has boasted that Gutierrez is the first Latino president and CEO in the NHL, while owner Alex Meruelo in 2019 became the league's first Hispanic owner." The Coyotes "have made clear their plans to increase their potential ticket-buying audience with expanded outreach in communities of color under the new leadership" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/27).
QUESTIONABLE MOVE: NHL Network's Elliotte Friedman said the Coyotes told him that they believe Miller is "deserving of an opportunity to prove that he can make proper amends and that he can show that the incident, as ugly as it was and it was ugly, is behind him and it’s something that he has learned from and can improve on." Friedman: "Now the one thing that appears to be missing from this, and if I was advising the Coyotes and the young man himself is, it's quite clear that the family of the young man who (was bullied) ... is not satisfied yet with what's happened in the aftermath. I think that that's where you have to go, you have to try to make it right with the family" (“NHL Tonight,” NHL Network, 10/26). THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell wrote the first thing that came to mind upon learning the story about Miller was, "What on God's green earth were the Coyotes thinking when they made this pick?" The Coyotes are "hanging on by a thread in their own market and used their first pick of the draft to take a kid who was basically convicted of a hate crime, all the while being familiar with the backstory?" Campbell: "That's really something." This is a story that "has been known in hockey circles for quite some time." In fact, Miller "has been lauded by many in hockey for owning what he did and getting out in front of it" (SI.com, 10/26).
