What comes next for Mitchell Miller?

On Sunday the Boston Bruins officially reversed course when they announced that they would be cutting ties with defenseman Mitchell Miller effective immediately. The announcement was made just days after the announcement of Miller's highly controversial signing and for many that may have seemed like the end of the short-lived Mitchell Miller experiment.

Unfortunately for both the Bruins and the National Hockey League though, things may be far from over.

For starters it sounds like, despite comments made by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman over the weekend, Miller's contract was registered by the NHL and that in turn entitles him to certain rights and protections under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. 

For starters, according to veteran NHL reporter Ken Campbell it appears as though the Bruins will have to place Mitchell on unconditional waivers before they can terminate his contract. Even once this process is complete however, the NHLPA could still choose to file a grievance on Miller's behalf due to the unusual circumstances surrounding this particular contract termination.

The legal dispute over this will be further complicated by the fact that the aforementioned Gary Bettman attempted to claim that Miller was ineligible despite his contract being approved by the league. To further complicate matters, despite Bettman claiming that the Bruins did not consult the league prior to making the decision to sign Miller, it sounds like they may have done exactly that by consulting NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

The NHLPA has already expressed concern over the comments made by Bettman in regards to Miller's eligibility and it could very well be that they will seek to file a grievance on Miller's behalf should they feel he has been wronged by the Bruins or the NHL in any way, regardless of how unpopular that may prove to be.

It seems the Bruins themselves are aware of the uncertainty, when asked earlier today about how this would play out, Bruins president Cam Neely declined to respond

The only thing that truly seems certain about the Mitchell Miller saga at this point is that we have not yet heard the last of it.