Bill Belichick sad to see ‘good friend’ Bruce Cassidy fired by Bruins

Bruins Former Boston Bruins’ head coach Bruce Cassidy, left, shakes hands with New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick in 2019. Nic Antaya for The Boston Globe

Like many Bruins fans, Patriots coach Bill Belichick sounded surprised and upset that the team fired head coach Bruce Cassidy on Monday.

Belichick, who spoke to reporters Tuesday at the start of mandatory minicamp, expressed support for Cassidy.

“Just sorry to see what happened with Bruce yesterday,” Belichick said. “Really enjoy my relationship with him, and I’ll always support the Bruins, but he was a good friend and somebody that I had a really good relationship with.

“Took the team to the playoffs, got pretty close to the Finals and all that. Understand what the business is, but [I’ll] just miss him.”

The Bruins announced Cassidy’s firing Monday evening. In a statement, GM Don Sweeney thanked Cassidy for his contributions to the franchise but indicated that the team needed a new coach after bowing out against the Hurricanes in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last month.

“After taking some time to fully digest everything, I felt that the direction of our team for both this season and beyond would benefit from a new voice,” Sweeney wrote.

On Tuesday, Sweeney admitted to reporters that the team could be looking at a rebuild.

“We’re a competitive group and we’re going to remain a competitive group, but we may need to infuse [younger players] at some point in time,” Sweeney said. “You have injuries and things that catch up to you, that you just can’t get out from under, that’s a problem. The Bergeron [decision] … could be a directional shift.”

Cassidy was the Bruins’ head coach for six years.

Sign up for Patriots updates🏈

Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season.