The Boston Bruins announced on Tuesday that they have hired an independent law firm to investigate the organization's player-vetting process.
The move comes a week and a half after the public relations nightmare that was the team's signing of Mitchell Miller. The Bruins ended up announcing that they would be cutting ties with Miller just two days after signing him, although Miller technically still remains under contract for the time being.
General manager Don Sweeney acknowledged after the signing that the team did not talk to the victim of Miller's bullying and racism, Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, or the Meyer-Crothers family. Team president Cam Neely said last week that it was "concerning" that the team hadn't done so and admitted that the organization had failed in its vetting process.
So far, no internal discipline has been announced by the team. It would now appear that if there is any, it could come after the independent review takes place.
Here is the team's statement announcing the review, which will be led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch:
The Boston Bruins strive every day to live our values and meet the high standards our associates, fans and community have come to expect. This includes treating everyone inside and outside our organization with dignity and respect. We recently fell short of our high standards and disappointed both ourselves and many in our community. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that our values are reflected in everything we do as an organization, including our process for vetting future players.
As part of this commitment, the Boston Bruins have retained an experienced and respected team of professionals, led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch of the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, to conduct an independent review of our player-vetting process. This will help us ensure that our process going forward reflects our core values. The Bruins organization will fully cooperate with the independent review team and will publicly disclose the results of the review upon its completion.
