BOSTON — The Boston Bruins’ looming Tuukka Rask question could be moving to the front burner before long. The franchise’s all-time leader in victories hopes to be ready to play by January.
Sean McDonough, who called the game Friday for ABC, said Rask told him he has a timetable to return:
“I talked to Tuukka last night. He said rehab is going very well. He will begin skating five days a week next week,” McDonough said during the game. “He’s already skating. He hopes that he can play as early as January and he hopes it’ll be as a Boston Bruin.”
Rask, a free agent, played his entire NHL career in Boston. He announced after the 2020-21 season that he was undergoing surgery for a torn labrum and would miss at least the first three months of the season. He expressed interest in returning to Boston.
The Bruins publicly left the door open for him to come back but they signed Linus Ullmark as a free agent to pair with rookie Jeremy Swayman. It’s unlikely they’d carry three healthy NHL goalies. Ullmark has a no movement clause. Swayman could still be sent down, but he’s been the organization’s best goalie to date.
In June, Rask didn’t sound interested in playing elsewhere.
“I’m not going to play for anyone else than the Bruins. This is our home. We have three kids. The kids enjoy it here. They have friends in school. We have friends,” Rask said. “At this point of my life and my career, I don’t see any reason to go anywhere else, especially with the health I’m looking at now and a recovery time of five or six months. Hopefully, it works out that I recover well and we can talk about contracts when the time is right for that.”
He was asked what he’d do if the Bruins didn’t offer him a contract.
“We’ll see when we get there. Maybe I go play in Finland. I’m a part-owner of a team in Finland. They’re opening a new rink,” Rask said. “Maybe at that point I could play in Finland. Who knows? Maybe I could go play in Czech Republic again, I don’t know.”
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