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@TheHornATX I just had the misfortune to hear your coverage of the Mitchell Miller story and as it was genuinely the worst piece of reporting I'd ever come across I thought I better set a few things straight.
1. Isaiah Meyer-Crothers is not a girl. I don't know where you were going suggesting he is. He is a young black male with learning delay, at the time of the incident he had a mental age of approximately 10 years old.
2. It wasn't that Miller "allegedly punched her". He (as corroborated by several witnesses) waged a prolonged racist bullying campaign.
3. The incident you referred to was caught on school cameras, Miller smashed Isaiah's head against a wall and swipped a popsicle in a urinal which he forced him to lick. His victim later had to have multiple STD tests.
4. It wasn't the case that he renounced his scholarship at North Dakota to play in the NHL after the Yotes drafted him. That's not how the NHL works, it's normal for drafted players to play college hockey. He was drafted to the Yotes AND had a scholarship at ND.
5. He did send letters to all NHL teams apologizing for his conduct, what he didn't do was apologize to the family beyond what was mandated by the court (because yes, what he did was serious enough for Juvie court).
6. Multiple independent scouts and teams removed him from their draft boards after talking with him, over a perceived lack of remorse over the incident, so it's not the case that he did this at 14 and learned from his mistakes.
7. The Coyotes had their picks in round 1-3 removed for violation of draft regulations and this is STILL who they chose. Picks in the 4th round of the NHL draft have basically a lottery chance of playing in the NHL (although, if not an asshole Miller should have gone in the 2nd)
8. Even still, there is still a steep fall off in likelihood of successful pick from the mid first round. They thought they were getting a steal and in reality were getting a PR nightmare which suggests a severe lack of due dilligence.
9. Mitchell will probably end up in the KHL (which is the Russian League FYI) where they do not care about such things. If he's good enough, they'll spin a PR redemption story to get him back in the NHL, such is the way of these things.
10. Next time you randomly decide to cover a hockey story, please reach out to the literally dozens of people in Austin who know what they are talking about. To go so spectacularly wrong in a 3 minute segment is a truly special talent.
