Mike Milbury has issued a statement.

Milbury responds to recent reports.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Mike Milbury has issued a statement.
Aram Boghosian/The Boston Globe

Earlier today we reported that analyst for National Hockey League games broadcast on NBC Mike Milbury had been unceremoniously removed from the NHL's playoff bubble after controversial comments earlier this week, and now we have word from the man himself. 

According to information provided by NBC, and not by Milbury himself, Milbury has issued a statement on his departure from the bubble which tries its best to suggest that his departure is a voluntary one. I'll be perfectly honest with you I have absolutely no evidence to suggest that this is not the case, but I am simply not buying it.

Here's the statement:

"In light of the attention caused by my recent remark, I have decided to step away from my role at NBC Sports for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, said Milbury. "I do not want my presence to interfere with the athletes as they try to win the greatest trophy in sports."

Here's my first question to all of my readers, have you ever heard Mike Milbury speak that way? The fact that, according to Helen Elliott of the Los Angeles Times, the statement came from NBC and reads like a corporate statement if I have ever seen one suggests to me that Milbury may have had no part at all in crafting this statement. Again that is pure speculation on my part but I think it is far more likely that pressure from both the NHL and NBC are what led to this decision and this statement than anything that came from Mike Milbury.

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