Rumor: Bruins players are behind Bruce Cassidy's firing.

Last week the Boston Bruins made one of the most surprising moves of the offseason thus far when they announced their decision to part ways with head coach Bruce Cassidy, a long time member of the Bruins organization.

It was a move that not only caught fans and pundits by surprise, but also proved to be unexpected for Cassidy himself as well. Cassidy not only told reporters that the decision was not his own, but also that he had been assured prior to the firing that he would be back for the 2022 - 2023 regular season.

"I want to be the coach of the Boston Bruins," admitted Cassidy following his firing. "But here we are. I’m on to the next challenge. Hopefully, I can be successful"

That is an odd way for things to have played out and that in turn has now led to speculation that the players on the Bruins roster may have played a role in getting Cassidy fired. There has been speculation that, following the conclusion of the Bruins seasons, players would have approached general manager Don Sweeney to voice their displeasure with their current head coach.

The reality may be even worse than that though.

The latest on this topic comes to us via Bruins beat reporter Jimmy Murphy who recently revealed he spoke to a source that suggested that even Sweeney may have been undermined by his players.

"From what I hear, the players’ issues with Bruce fell on deaf ears with Sweeney so they took it to Neely," said the source as per Murphy. "I’ve heard Neely and Cassidy didn’t always see eye to eye and maybe that’s all he needed to justify firing him? Who knows? But that’s what it sounds like."

If that is indeed the case then the Bruins may have some serious internal problems that need hammering out before they can move forward. For what it's worth, some of the players who have had their names linked to these rumors have already come out and have denied being involved. Most notably, Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron completely shut down the story when speaking to the French media in his home province of Quebec, Canada.

"Those rumors are completely unfounded and I won't waste any energy on that," said Bergeron last week. "It's really the speculation of idiots and a waste of time."

It may be a very long time before the truth of all this comes to light, and frankly we may never get the full picture of what went down behind the scenes.