Cassidy: Bruins told me I was safe during exit meeting before firing

Bruce Cassidy's dismissal from the Boston Bruins on Monday raised some eyebrows around the hockey world, but nobody was more surprised than Cassidy himself.

The former Bruins head coach says management told him during his season-ending exit meeting that his job was safe.

"The end-of-the-year meeting was that I would be coaching on this year of my deal," Cassidy told reporters Thursday, including Conor Ryan of the Boston Sports Journal. "That's how it would be proceeding forward. And that was it. Sometimes there are talks after every year of - right away, there are coaches let go, there are extensions, there's status quo. So that was the message: It would be status quo."

Cassidy led the Bruins to the playoffs in all six years at the helm, including a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2019. However, Boston was ousted in the first round of the postseason by the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 this year.

"The Bruin is basically tattooed to me. That's the difficult part," Cassidy said. "I feel I did my job. We can always get better; we can always be better."

Cassidy's career points percentage of .635 ranks 20th all time. With his resume, he likely won't have any issues finding work. In fact, he's already spoken with multiple teams.

"In respect to the teams, I'm not going to go through them," Cassidy said. "But yes, I have talked to a number of teams."

He added: "I want to get back to work. Hopefully, it's a really good fit - best fit possible. That's not always the case, but that's what I'm hoping for both sides. And we'll see where it gets to."