Tuukka Rask Sheds Light On Looming Free Agency, Only Wants To Play For Bruins

If Tuukka Rask is to continue playing after this season, he wants it to be in Boston.

The Bruins netminder is entering the final season of his eight-year deal, at which point he’ll be an unrestricted free agent. He’s 33-years-old, has won a Vezina Trophy, his name is on the Stanley Cup, and he has said he doesn’t want to finish his career overseas.

So the upcoming offseason is a big one for Rask.

To put it bluntly though, he wants to ride out whatever time he has left in the NHL with the Bruins.

“I think what the situation is now, everything is kind of upside down with the hockey world,” Rask said Wednesday over Zoom. “And I’m sure (Don Sweeney) has a lot on his plate right now, my contract situation is probably not on the top of his list at the moment. I’m comfortable with where we are right now, I just want to go out there and start the season off right and get on a good groove and play good hockey personally and as a team.

“And then if the contract talks happen during the season then so be it, if they don’t, we’ll just wait it out and see what happens. But my main focus is just to get the season started off right and then worry about the future after that.

“I’ve said that before I have no intention of playing anywhere else but the Bruins, so if I’m good enough to play one, two, three more years then so be it, and if not then so be it. So that’s where my head is at.”

Rask was a Vezina finalist last season, and is in line to play roughly 33-34 of Boston’s 56 games this season.