The Bruins are in good shape from a salary cap perspective, both in terms of being able to add before this year’s trade deadline and in terms of having plenty of flexibility this offseason.
One area that could become a question mark that hasn’t been one in a long time, though, is goaltending. Both Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak are set to be unrestricted free agents after the season if the Bruins don’t sign them to an extension before then.
At 33 and 35 respectively, Rask and Halak shouldn’t expect anything longer-term, but the Bruins could be interested in bringing one or both back on a shorter-term deal, especially if they’re not ready to completely turn the position over to prospects Jeremy Swayman and Dan Vladar.
Appearing on NBCSN during the first intermission of Wednesday night’s Bruins-Capitals game, Bob McKenzie reported that Don Sweeney and the Bruins would be open to negotiating extensions for Rask, Halak or both during the season.
“The interesting thing for me is they’ve got both goaltenders -- Jaro Halak, their backup goaltender, and of course Tuukka Rask, their veteran number one -- they’re both on expiring contracts. So, could there be contract talks in-season to get something done? I think the short answer to that is, yes,” McKenzie said. “The Bruins are not opposed to bringing back one or both of these guys and doing in-season contracts, if they get the sense from the goaltenders that’s what they want to do.
“Rask is really the key here. How much longer does he want to play? And I think the Bruins are waiting for some sort of indication from him on how he’d like to proceed, but the Bruins by all means are open to having one or both of these guys back. They have to do a little bit of a dance in terms of Jeremy Swayman or Daniel Vladar, their younger goalies in the system. Is one of them ready to step up just yet? Or how would all those pieces of the puzzle fit? But all things considered, the veteran goaltender Rask and the veteran Halak may be getting contracts before the end of the season if that’s the way they want to go.”
Rask said before the season that he was “comfortable” with where things were from a contract perspective and that he wasn’t worried about playing on an expiring deal. He also said he hoped to remain a Bruin beyond this season and that he had no intention to play for another team.
“Yeah, hopefully,” Rask said in January of playing in Boston beyond 2021. “I’ve said that before, I have no intention to play anywhere else other than the Bruins. If I’m good enough to play one, two, three more years, so be it. If not, so be it. That’s where my head’s at.”
Rask is 8-3-2 with a .902 save percentage and 2.56 goals-against average this season, while Halak is 4-2-1 with a .903 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against average. Rask has a $7 million cap hit for this season, while Halak's is $2.25 million.
Swayman and Vladar are both off to strong starts in Providence. Swayman is 4-0-0 with a .929 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average, while Vladar is 2-2-0 with a .934 save percentage and 1.78 goals-against average.
McKenzie also shed some light on what the Bruins could do before the trade deadline, saying they have the ability to add a “prominent” player and that Sweeney is “wide open to any all possibilities.”
“They’ve got major cap flexibility here, and that was by design,” McKenzie said. “They knew it was going to be an interesting year with taxi squads and COVID and everything else. They absolutely have the ability to add a really prominent defenseman if they want to, or up front, or maybe even both. I think Don Sweeney, the general manager there, is wide open to any and all possibilities. We’ll get a better handle on that closer to the trade deadline, which is five weeks Monday.”
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