Tuukka Rask really doesn’t know what the future holds for him.
But he’s keeping all options open.
The Boston Bruins goaltender has made clear that, after some initial confusion, he does not plan on retiring once his current contract expires after next season. At that point, he’ll be 34-years-old and could be in line for another multiyear offer.
Asked Monday on a conference call if there’s a specific age he’d like to play until, Rask first offered this.
“I’ve never really thought of that really, the age, number that I would play until,” Rask said. “I think a lot of it has to do with how much you want to keep playing, is your body healthy and do you have that passion for the game still. Those are the questions you try to (ask). It’s not necessarily 40, 36, whatever, you’ll play as long as you can and your body feels healthy and you want to keep doing it. But whenever that drive kind of slow down then you’ve got to rethink and revisit ‘Hey is this something that I want to do.’ So far, I still have that passion of winning and playing and that drives me, the winning drive me. So I haven’t put a number into it that what age it might be, but we’ll see.”
Then, he tossed some humor in.
“Maybe it’s 36, 37, maybe it’s 42, you never know. (Zdeno Chara is) still playing and he’s getting older, so maybe I’ll be the goalie who plays to 45. Maybe, maybe not.”
Whatever the case may be, Rask continues to play at a high level. And by keeping Jaroslav Halak around for another year, a move that Rask approved of, Boston’s longtime netminder likely will continue to be one of the league’s top netminders.
