The last time we saw Tuukka Rask with the Bruins, it was after Game 2 of Boston’s first-round series against Carolina back in August when he made several bizarre comments about playing in the Toronto bubble.
About 36 hours later, the longtime Bruins goalie opted out of the remainder of the playoffs to return home to Boston to deal with a family emergency.
The decision immediately led to speculation about Rask’s future with the Bruins, especially with just one year left on his contract. But when Rask broke his silence in October, he made it clear that he wanted to continue to play in Boston.
Despite numerous rumors and reports about a possible trade, Rask is indeed still a Bruin as training camp opens and a new season begins.
So, is his head in a good place? According to coach Bruce Cassidy, the answer is yes.
“I think his head’s been good since he got back and took care of his family, to be honest with you,” Cassidy said. “I talked to him shortly after that during the summer, again before camp, and we’re not going to go back in time every time we discuss things. It’s just sort of, hey, when the schedule comes out, anticipating what games he’ll play. That’ll be next on the agenda.
“He feels good, practicing well. He’s been here for an extended period of time now, working out here at the facility. Obviously he’s ready to go in that regard. Like I said, to my understanding everything’s great at home with his wife and his girls, so that’s most important and usually puts you in a good place to go to work whatever your career is. That’s the way I see it with Tuukka.”
With a shortened 56-game season and a condensed schedule, the Bruins are in the process of working through their goaltending plans in terms of workload. Rask and Jaroslav Halak, who is also back, have given the Bruins arguably the best goaltending duo in the NHL over the last two seasons, with Rask getting about 55-60% of the starts during the regular season.
Cassidy said that could roughly be the split again, and said he’ll almost certainly at least split them when the Bruins play on back-to-back nights. But he also pointed out that having less travel (all 56 games are against the other seven East Division teams, and there are a lot of two-game mini-series in one city) could make it easier to lean on one goalie or the other if he has to.
Either way, Cassidy knows the Bruins will need their goalies to play well right off the bat as the team breaks in a younger, less experienced defense following the departures of Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug.
“We’re going to need good goaltending,” Cassidy said. “We’ve talked about a little bit of our change on defense, giving some younger players an opportunity, so typically when that happens, you need your goaltender to help you out. When you go through your hiccups early on, you need good team structure. We have that. We have good centermen to help down low. Hopefully we pair these guys up with good partners that have been in the league. And like I said, the goaltending can help in a lot of areas that way. I anticipate nothing but good play from Tuukka. I guess we’ll find out next week when we get to New Jersey.”