It was a relatively innocuous video all things considered: Tuukka Rask on the ice at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday, doing some light work and testing out his surgically repaired hip.
Rask has been around Warrior plenty throughout this rehab process. But given that this was the first time the media or the public saw him on the ice in a Bruins jersey this season, it was certainly notable.
In the present, Rask’s short workout doesn’t mean a whole lot. He hasn’t signed anything and is still a free agent. It doesn’t appear any deal is imminent. He wasn’t on the ice with the Bruins or participating in an actual practice or anything.
But it does serve as a reminder that the clock is ticking, and that there will be a decision to be made by both Rask and the Bruins at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Rask getting back on the ice is an important step in his rehab. He still has more steps to take, but if those steps go well and Rask still wants to play this season, he could be ready to do so within the next month and a half or so.
When Rask joined The Greg Hill Show at the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon in August, he said that he could be ready to return around Christmas time or early January. That was earlier than initial reports that it might be January or February.
Rask also made it clear during that interview that A) he did want to return, B) he only wanted to play for the Bruins, and C) he “will be a cheap goalie.”
The Bruins have always left the door open for Rask to this point, although coach Bruce Cassidy did acknowledge before the season that there was the potential for things to get “sticky” if Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman are both playing well and there’s no obvious spot or playing time for Rask.
But that brings us to another potentially sticky part of this: What qualifies as playing well? The performance of the Bruins’ goalies through nine games can probably best be described as “fine.” They haven’t really been the reason the Bruins have lost any games, but they haven’t exactly stolen any games either.
Ullmark is 3-2-0 with a .918 save percentage and Swayman is 2-2-0 with a .900 save percentage. Put them together and the Bruins rank 23rd out of 32 teams in all-situations save percentage and 24th in five-on-five save percentage.
Swayman fares a little better than Ullmark in some advanced metrics, but both are still below average -- 35th and 43rd, respectively, in goals saved above expected; 30th and 49th, respectively, in high-danger save percentage (both out of the 51 goalies who have played the most minutes).
Rask, meanwhile, is still just two years removed from a 2019-20 season (his last healthy season) in which he ranked near the top of the league in every metric (standard or advanced) and finished second in Vezina Trophy voting.
Ullmark and Swayman still have plenty of time to pick up their play before any sort of decision needs to be made on Rask. If they do and they start to get closer to the level of goaltending the Bruins are used to, it’s certainly still possible there will be no need for Rask, and no spot for him.
But what if one or both of them just kind of hover around league average, or worse? In that case, the Bruins may very well decide that a healthy and fresh Rask can be an upgrade for the second half of the season.
The image of Rask returning to the ice on Monday was enough to at least get you thinking.