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Boston Bruins president Cam Neely said the signing of prospect Mitchell Miller was his biggest regret as an NHL executive, and he expressed concern over failures in the team’s vetting process.

“I’m extremely upset that we have made a lot of people unhappy with our decision,” Neely said Monday. “I take a lot of pride in the Bruins organization and what we stand for, and we failed there.”

The Bruins signed Miller, a 20-year-old defenseman, on Friday to an entry-level contract with the intention of sending him to AHL Providence. The team, however, announced Sunday night that it was parting ways with Miller after intense backlash from fans, the team’s own players and commissioner Gary Bettman.

Said Bettman on Saturday: “I can’t tell you that he’ll ever be eligible to come into the NHL.”

Miller was a fourth-round pick by the Arizona Coyotes in 2020, but his draft rights were relinquished when a story was published about how he and another middle school classmate were convicted in juvenile court in 2016 of assaulting and bullying Isaiah Meyer-Crothers, a Black classmate with developmental disabilities. In the report, Meyer-Crothers’ mother alleged Miller began abusing her son in second grade and repeatedly used racial slurs.

Neely said the possibility of signing Miller was first broached in August. The Bruins said Sunday that they decided to cut ties with him “based on new information.” When asked about that Monday, Neely said the fact that the Bruins never reached out to the family of Meyer-Crothers “was concerning to me” and that it was “absolutely” a problem with the team’s vetting process.

“We like to take pride in what we do in the community and we hold ourselves accountable,” said Neely, who said he plans to reach out to the family of Meyer-Crothers. “We dropped the ball, and I’m here to apologize.

“I’ll say it again: I want to apologize to Isaiah and his family. It’s something that they shouldn’t continue to go through.”

Why did the Bruins believe Miller deserved a chance in the NHL, after the Coyotes passed?

“From everything I’ve heard, he was working on himself, working in programs to better himself,” Neely said. “I was under the impression it was a 14-year-old kid who made a really, really bad decision and did some horrible things, and he’s 20 years old now. I was under the impression that he, in the last six years, had done a lot of work on himself.”

The Bruins president, however, said the team “could’ve dug deeper” on Miller before signing him.

The initial backlash came from NHL fans and quickly extended to Boston’s own players, who were on the road in Toronto and had been told that Miller would be signed. Captain Patrice Bergeron called Miller’s actions “unacceptable, and we don’t stand by that.”

On Saturday, while in Finland for the NHL Global Series, Bettman said Miller’s future in the league was uncertain. The NHLPA told ESPN on Saturday that it had not been informed of any suspension or disciplinary action by the NHL toward Miller.

Neely said Boston GM Don Sweeney spoke with deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Wednesday about signing Miller.

“From what I gather, [NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly] said that Mitchell would have to get in front of Gary Bettman if he was going to play in the NHL,” Neely said.

Neely called the signing of Miller his biggest regret “by far” as an executive. It came at a time when the Bruins are off to their best start in franchise history (10-2-0).

“The timing of it was never probably going to be good,” Neely said. “I think it got down to the point of [whether] we’re doing it or not. And we made the wrong decision.”

ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark contributed to this report.

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

CHICAGO — Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has made the Chicago Blackhawks, agreeing to a $1 million, one-year contract with the team.

Chicago announced the deal on Sunday. Grzelcyk had been with the team in training camp on a personal tryout agreement.

The Blackhawks visit the Florida Panthers for their season opener Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Grzelcyk had one goal and a career-high 39 assists in 82 games for Pittsburgh last season. He also set a career high with a team-leading 101 blocked shots.

Grzelcyk, a Massachusetts native, was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. He had 25 goals and 110 assists in 445 games for the Bruins over eight seasons.

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

Niko Mikkola had an assist on a goal that gave the Florida Panthers an 8-0 lead. Problem was, he had been kicked out of the game a few minutes earlier and nobody noticed.

It was that kind of night between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida defeated Tampa Bay 7-0 in the preseason finale for both clubs Saturday night, though the score was irrelevant. There were 65 penalties for 312 minutes on the stat sheet, including 13 game misconduct penalties — seven for Tampa Bay, six for Florida. The penalty count kept rising after the game, as officials were making sure everything that was called got logged.

“I have no idea,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, when asked what message Tampa Bay was trying to send with its style of play. “I’m not worried about it. Training camp is over. We had some good games … and no one was complaining about ice time by the end of it, so it’s over.”

Florida had 17 power-play chances in the game, by the NHL’s count.

“It got silly. It got stupid by the end of it,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It wasn’t really hockey out there.”

The parade to the penalty boxes started about two minutes into the game when Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin — who was among six players the Lightning called up for the game — went after Florida’s Aaron Ekblad. Sabourin got a major penalty after playing 19 seconds.

“It made you think there might be something coming,” Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen said, when asked what he thought when he saw the Lightning called up players for the game.

What would have been the eighth Florida goal of the night, midway through the third period, was taken away 15 minutes after Jesper Boqvist scored. Off-ice officials realized that Mikkola couldn’t have had an assist on the play — since he had been ejected earlier in the period.

The teams skated with the scoreboard saying Florida led 8-0 for about five minutes of actual game time before officials informed both teams that the goal had been taken away and Mikkola had to leave the game.

The Lightning took nine penalties and had no shots on goal in the third period.

Saturday’s game came two nights after the teams combined for 49 penalties and 186 minutes in another preseason contest, one the Lightning won 5-2.

Tampa Bay went to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 2020 through 2022, winning two titles in that span. Florida has been to each of the past three Stanley Cup Finals and has won the past two Cups. And there has long been a heated rivalry between the franchises.

“I think anybody that’s been a part of this rivalry would probably look at this box score and A, not be surprised and B, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for something like that to happen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers rid themselves of defenseman Ryan Ellis‘ contract in a trade with the Sharks, ending his tenure at four games played in four seasons.

Ellis and a conditional sixth-round draft pick were traded to San Jose on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. The condition on the sixth-round pick is that San Jose shall receive the earlier of two picks Philadelphia currently owns in the 2026 sixth round, its own and Columbus‘.

The Flyers now have five picks in the 2026 draft. They own one pick in each of the first three rounds, one in the sixth and one in the seventh round.

Philadelphia thought it acquired one of the NHL’s best defensemen when it landed Ellis from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2021 season. Ellis was selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft and helped the Predators win the Stanley Cup in 2017. He had 270 points in 562 career games at the time of the trade.

Ellis played four games in 2021 until he suffered a pelvis injury believed to be career-threatening.

The Sharks likely will place Ellis on long-term injured reserve. He has two seasons left on an eight-year, $50 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $6.25 million through 2027.

Grundstrom scored nine points in 56 games with San Jose last season.

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