It’s been a minute since we’ve seen Tuukka Rask.
The Boston Bruins netminder exited the Toronto bubble early over the summer to take care of a family emergency and now he’s back on the ice for Boston ahead of the 2021 season.
As far as the goalie’s headspace, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has no concerns.
“I think his head’s been good since he got back and took care of his family, to be honest with you,” Cassidy said Tuesday over Zoom. “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 which games you’re gonna play. That’ll be next on the agenda.
“But he feels good, practicing well. He’s been here for an extended period of time now, working out here at the facility. So 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. So, that’s the way I see it with Tuukka.”
This all comes as the Bruins enter a youth movement of sorts.
Both Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara walked in free agency, and now the likes of Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon and Urho Vaakanainen will get real chances to stake their claim to a spot on the roster.
There will be some growing pains, to be sure, which is why this is a big year for Rask — who was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season.
“We’re going to need good goaltending,” Cassidy said. “We’ve talked about a little bit of our change on defense, where we’re going to give some younger players an opportunity, so typically when that happens, you need goaltending 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. So I anticipate nothing but good play from Tuukka — I guess we’ll find out next week when we get to New Jersey.”
The B’s brought back Jaroslav Halak, who over the last two seasons has helped ease some pressure Rask, mainly with respect to his workload. That will remain the case in the shortened 2021 season, with Cassidy estimating Rask will get about “33 or 34” games this season. Obviously though, those numbers will be play- and health-driven.
We’ll get our first look at Rask next Thursday as the Bruins open their season in New Jersey against the Devils.
