The future of Tuukka Rask is unknown, but Bruce Cassidy doesn't believe his return impacted the development of Jeremy Swayman.
The Bruins re-signed Rask in January after he underwent offseason hip surgery to repair a torn labrum. He went through months of rehab and made his first start in seven months against the Philadelphia Flyers. Rask looked strong and earned the win, but couldn't seem to get into a groove after that.
A few rough starts resulted in Boston recalling Jeremy Swayman from Providence, who was the odd man out when Rask returned. Rask began to deal with "lingering effects" from his surgery, and a report from The Athletic surfaced that he no longer would attempt to try to come back.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters after Tuesday's loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins that it was Rask's situation to comment on, and after Wednesday's practice again was asked about Rask.
"I think there's some other things going on with his body that at his age wasn't expecting," Cassidy told reporters. "I know this about Tuukka, he wants to play to a certain level. If he doesn't feel he can get there then he's going to have a decision to make and that's what he's going through right now. For us I guess it's where we are at the start of the year: It's Ullmark and it's Swayman and we need them to play well for to give us the best chance to win. We'll see what happens with Tuukk."
With Swayman playing the back and forth game between Boston and Providence, does Cassidy have any reason to think that impacted his development?
"No, he's a young guy. This isn't a guy going back later on. He still got his starts there," Cassidy said. "I don't think (Rask) was here long enough to have a negative effect on him. If Sway had sat for a long period of time you could make an argument ... I think we're all in agreement Tuukka's a world-class goalie, it was an opportunity to improve at a position ... unfortunately for Tuukka, he didn't bounce back as well as he would have liked, as well as we would have liked, and that's where we’re at right now."
Of course, nothing is official until it becomes official, and if this is the end of the road for Rask, he certainly has a slew of accolades on his résumé.
As for Swayman? He'll need to bounce back from a tough start Tuesday, but the Bruins do have at least two capable goalies ready to man the net.
