While the rest of us were stunned by the news Saturday morning that Tuukka Rask has decided to opt out of the rest of the NHL playoffs, it sounds like the Bruins had an idea this might be coming.
General manager Don Sweeney spoke to the media via Zoom after Rask's announcement and said the organization understands why Rask made the decision he did and fully support him.
"We understand completely where Tuukka's coming from," Sweeney said. "I don't think it's any big surprise to us, to be honest with you. We're privy to information maybe before the rest of the public is. This has been a difficult decision for Tuukka, but the Boston Bruins are in full support of why he made this decision."
Rask said in his statement that being with his family right now was more important than hockey. Sweeney said that Rask's family is safe and healthy, but also noted that Rask and his wife have a newborn baby as well as two other young daughters.
"Give Tuukka a hell of a lot of credit for trying to persevere through this and initiate the process to come up and be with his teammates," Sweeney said. "First and foremost that's what he wants to do, but the priorities are in the right order, and this is what he has to do at this time."
"The communication with our players is ongoing, knowing and asking how their families at home are doing, trying to be supportive of things that they may need while the players are away," Sweeney added. "So the communication is again ongoing and maybe had been building to a point where he felt that he needed to make the decision now rather than later on. He had been trying to battle through it. Mentally, as we said, this would be a difficult exercise and again, I don't think I was entirely caught off guard by the ultimate decision because we had had conversations leading up to it."
Rask, of course, made headlines after Game 2 Thursday night when he said these didn't feel like playoff games and that he was just trying to have fun and not stress about results. Sweeney said there isn't necessarily a direct connection between Rask's comments and his decision to opt out, but that people can probably correctly guess that Rask was having a tough time mentally.
"Nothing specific to his direct comments," Sweeney said. "I think you can rightfully infer that Tuukka was having some tough time being away in this environment. And nothing against what the NHL has put together and the intensity of the playoffs. This is playoff hockey. I mean, let's make no mistake about it. The stakes are high and the players are invested, and Tuukka in his own right felt that he needed to be elsewhere rather than being here in this current situation. He's the same goaltender that went to the Stanley Cup Final in a Game 7 last year and taking a team, and he'll be the same player when we get up and running again next year. But at this point in time the two aren't related."
The Bruins will now turn to Jaroslav Halak as their No. 1 goalie, with either Dan Vladar or Max Lagace backing up.
Presented by:
