The Boston Bruins have hired an independent law firm to conduct a review of their player vetting process following the Mitchell Miller signing.
The Boston Bruins announced on Tuesday the club hired the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an independent review of the organization's player vetting process.
The decision comes in the aftermath of the Mitchell Miller saga, during which the Bruins handed Miller, who had been convicted in an Ohio juvenile court of assault and violating the Ohio Safe Schools Act in 2016, a three-year entry-level contract without contacting the family of his victim, the victim himself, the NHL or the AHL.
As a result, significant backlash ensued as reports of Miller's reluctance to show remorse for his crimes surfaced once again, and the Bruins announced two days later that they would be parting ways with Miller in light of "new information" that came to light following the signing.
The Bruins have never been explicitly clear as to what that information is, but Bruins president Cam Neely placed the blame on the organization's player vetting process during a media availability earlier this month and vowed to conduct a thorough review of how it failed in this instance.
Now, that appears to be happening.
"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," the Bruins said in a statement on Tuesday.
"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 also announced that the team will not only fully co-operate with the review, but they will make its results public upon completion as well.