All stats courtesy of hockeyreference.com.
Next up on my list is goaltender Tuukka Rask! Rask appeared in 46 games for the Bruins last season, in which he posted a 2.48 goals-against average (GAA) and a 0.912 save percentage (SV%). He then played in all 24 of the team’s playoff games on their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, through which he owned a sparkling 2.02 GAA and 0.934 SV%. Drafted 21st overall of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Rask has appeared in 495 career NHL games, over which he has posted a 2.28 GAA and 0.921 SV%. The 32-year-old netminder has only played for the Bruins organization over his 12 season NHL and professional career.
Far too many people in Boston hate Rask and want him traded because they claim he sucks and the Bruins will never win a Cup with him because he can’t win big games. They use him as a scapegoat simply because they feel they can, but in reality, trading Tuukka would be a huge mistake as he’s actually an outstanding goalie. He was pretty much the only reason the Bruins went on as a deep of a run as they did this past postseason. He played his best hockey in years, and had he not been playing that well, I don’t see any way in which the team would’ve made it as far as they did. You need a good goalie to go deep in the playoffs, and he proved that he certainly is that. Rask and backup netminder Jaroslav Halak formed one of the best tandems in the NHL during the regular season, and since Halak played as well as he did and was able to start as many games as he did, Tuukka was able to be fresh going into the postseason. Rask is a good positional goaltender, but he is also acrobatic at times, and he tends to make it look really easy, especially with his glove. He’s great at reading plays and anticipating what opposing players are going to do next, and most of the time he’s calm and collected in the net, which allows the rest of the team to play that way. Granted, there are times he loses his cool (you can look up him throwing his skate blade during the 2018 playoffs or Tuukka Rask milk crates to see his meltdown in Providence and you‘ll know what I mean), but those incidents are becoming fewer and farther between. But anyways, Tuukka is an incredible goaltender, and he’s a huge part of the Bruins, and he hopefully will be for the rest of his career.
As for what we can expect out of Rask next season, I think it’s safe to say it’ll be more of the same, and that’s certainly a good thing (looking at all you Rask haters out there as I say that). He’ll still have Halak to split the starts with him, which will be huge because it’ll allow him to be fresh for the postseason again. He’ll also be able to get more rest at the beginning of the season after starting every game of the long playoff run for the team, as head coach Bruce Cassidy already said he’ll lean on Halak more at the beginning of the season. His numbers also shouldn’t decline because of the fact that he won’t need to start too many games unless something happens to Halak, which is great, and who knows, they mean even be better if he doesn’t have another really rough start to the season. Regardless of how many games he starts this year, he’ll still be the same calm, positionally sound yet acrobatic goaltender we’ve come to know over the years. He’ll still be able to steal games for the team or at the very least keep them in most games. Yes, he’ll almost certainly have the occasional off night at which time the haters will call for his head, but every goalie has the occasional off night no matter how good they are. He’ll also make some awe-inspiring saves, and I can’t wait to see them and everything else he does over the course of this upcoming season.
Hockey Addict 