The Bruins apparently resolved their Mitchell Miller situation
It’s been over eight months since the Bruins parted ways with prospect Mitchell Miller just two days after signing him.
It was perhaps one of the worst, most unnecessary self-inflicted mistakes the Bruins could’ve made, as they came up short in their homework, their research, and quite literally everything else. That’s not an opinion either. Bruins president Cam Neely admitted as much when holding court with the media just days later. The NHL also noted that the Bruins did not seek their approval prior to signing Miller, which was an obvious issue to both Gary Bettman and Bill Daly.
Even so, the Bruins’ decision to part ways with Miller was essentially in practice only. Miller was still getting paid by the Bruins, he just wasn’t welcomed at their facilities in either Providence or Boston. The official parting of ways would have to happen in the summer (even wrote about it when discussing the B’s buyout candidates last month).
But it appears that the Bruins, Miller, and the league came to terms on a split much earlier than that. Just completely under everyone’s nose, according to an update shared by Larry Brooks of the New York Post.
From the NYP:
Slap Shots learned from an NHL official on Friday that, “He and the Bruins have parted ways.” A Bruins spokesman then told us via email, “Can confirm Mitch Miller is not under contract with the team. Cannot comment further.”
What happened?
Slap Shots has been told the Bruins immediately terminated Miller’s contract in conjunction with their disassociation from him. There is, however, no record of the team placing him on unconditional waivers for the purpose of termination as required by the CBA. Then too, that regulation applies to mutually agreed termination, which this was not.
The NHLPA, in turn, filed a grievance.
We have learned that in lieu of a hearing, the parties reached a settlement under which Boston was released from its obligation while Miller received an unknown sum and was granted free agency.
To put the secrecy part of this into its proper context, both CapFriendly and PuckPedia, regarded as the top transactional websites available in the hockey world, very much had Miller still on the B’s organizational depth chart for the last five months.
The Bruins also never sent out a release announcing that Miller was on waivers for the purpose of a contract termination, that his contract was indeed terminated, or what the cash settlement between the parties clocked in at.
It truly appears that nobody outside the B’s organization, Miller’s camp, the NHL, or the NHLPA knew about this. And if they did, they kept their mouth shut about it until Brooks reported what he did this weekend.
Hockey-wise, it would also appear that the Bruins somehow avoided a cap penalty of any sort with this settlement.
With Miller signed to the richest possible contract he could’ve signed as an entry-level player, buying out the final two years of Miller’s contract back in June (again, back when we didn’t know this situation had already resolved itself for the Bruins) would’ve added a four-year buyout on the Bruins’ books. They’d have $645,833 in savings in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, but get dinged for $129,167 in dead cap hits in both 2025-26 and 2026-27.
The 21-year-old Miller, who did not play anywhere in 2022-23, is expected to look for work in a European league, according to Brooks.
