Bruins’ Tuukka Rask opts out of playoffs - Boston Herald

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The Bruins’ Stanley Cup hopes took a gut punch on Saturday morning.

In a move that shocked the Bruin fandom — though not the club itself, apparently – B’s goalie and Vezina Trophy finalist Tuukka Rask opted out of the playoff bubble in Toronto to return home to Boston to be with his family. Rask and his wife have three young girls, including a newborn.

At 10:20 a.m., the Bruins tweeted out Rask’s statement.

“I want to be with my teammates competing, but at this moment there are things more imporant than hockey in my life, and that is being with my family. I want to thank the Bruins and my teammates for their support and wish them success,” the statement read.

In meeting with reporters on Zoom, GM Don Sweeney said that thankfully there is no pressing or dire health issue for Rask at home and expressed support for his goalie.

“We understand completely where Tuukka’s coming from. I don’t think it’s any big surprise to us, to be honest with you. We’re privy to information before the rest of the public is. This has been a difficult decision for Tuukka but the Boston Bruins are in full support of why he made this decision,” said Sweeney.

“For all of our players, we knew this would be a mental challenge, especially players with families. In Tuukka’s case, he has a newborn at home along with two other young girls and and he just felt he needed to be home with them at this particular time. You couldn’t control the timeline of when the playoffs resumed. I give Tuukka a hell of a lot of credit for trying to persevere through this and go through the process of coming up and being with his teammates. First and foremost, that’s what he wants to do. But the priorities are in the right order and this is what he has to do at this time.”

Defenseman Steven Kampfer informed the Bruins before the roster deadline that he was opting out because of a health condition with his son. In Rask’s case, it wouldn’t have helped the B’s any more if he had opted out back then as well, because they weren’t going to find a Vezina-caliber goalie no matter when he came to the decision.

“He didn’t give us an indication that this was absolutely going happen,” said Sweeney. “We have conversations with all of our players. You saw Steve Kampfer make an earlier decision. You’ve seen players in different sports make family decisions and during the course of the time (in Toronto) it’s been increasingly difficult for Tuukka to mentally stay where he needs to be. And ultimately he made a decision he had to be in a different place. I think we all understand that these are trying times for everybody. The NHL has done a fabulous job in protecting the health and safety. But the priority for Tuukka at this point, and rightfully so, has to be his family and we support that.”

Now the reins are handed over to Jaroslav Halak. Halak’s last real playoff experience was in 2015. He did carry the Canadiens on a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2010. Halak played one game in the round robin, giving up four goals on 29 shots in a loss to Philadelphia. Next in line are Daniel Vladar and/or Max Lagace. Lagace has played 17 NHL games and Vladar none.

Given the unique situation of the return to play format, Halak had been prepared to play at some point, though not necessarily as the No. 1 goalie.

“Jaro’s a pro. And I think over the last two years we’ve been a hockey club that relies on everybody. Jaro’s been a big part of that. We’ve split starts. We rarely played players back-to-back. Jaro is physically and mentally ready to step in and assume the role and obviously we hope he rises to the challenge,” said Sweeney.

Rask is the biggest-name player to opt out of the playoffs in the NHL, which had done its best to accommodate the players’ needs in these highly unusual circumstances, including having someone from each member team to do the grocery shopping for the families back home.

But over the last couple of years, Rask’s tug from home has been a little stronger than most players. In the 2018-19 season, he asked and was granted a short leave of absence for a still-undisclosed family matter. He also opted out of the most recent All-Star game in January.

“He’d been trying to battle through it,” said Sweeney. “Mentally, as we said, this would be a difficult exercise. Again, I don’t think I was entirely caught off-guard by the ultimate decision because we had conversations leading up to it. Obviously, you’re hopeful. You’re a better team when you have your better players. But we feel very confident in Jaro. He was on the ride last year, he knows what this team is capable of and we’re supporting Tuukka’s decision at this point in time.”

How Rask’s decision affects his teammates remains to be seen. Sweeney didn’t say whether there was any other player who’s been struggling like Rask was.

“You never know if there’s a domino effect in some of these decisions,” said Sweeney. “Everybody’s individual situation will be taken as it comes. Again, we’ll do our best to communicate with our players in case there are things at home that they’re concerned about that we may be able to help with. In this case, you’re not able to help because he feels he needed to be there in support of his own family. We understand that. I don’t expect (another player to opt out), but again this is a time when you have to roll with whatever comes your way and I think the players understand that they’ll be ready to go in support of Tuukka leaving but also in support of Jaro stepping in. It’s a great opportunity for Daniel (Vladar) or Max (Lagace) if they get the call. It’s always been a next man up mentality and more so in this situation.”

Rask, who has one more year left on his contract, raised eyebrows with his comments after the B’s loss on Thursday. He said the games still felt like exhibition games. He said he wasn’t worried about results, that he was just trying to have fun. Now we can see just how far removed he was from having a playoff mindset.

Despite his long run of excellence in Boston, Rask has always been a lightning rod for fans. This decision, no matter how virtuous a place it may have come from, will only exacerbate that.

“I think you can rightfully infer that Tuukka was having a tough time being away in this environment,” said Sweeney. “Nothing against what the NHL has put together and the intensity of the playoffs. This is playoff hockey. Let’s make no mistake about it. The players are invested and Tuukka in his right felt he needed to be elsewhere rather than being here in this current situation. He’s the same goaltender that went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals last year and he’ll be the same player when we get up and running again next year.”

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Bruins’ Tuukka Rask opts out of playoffs - Boston Herald
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