Goalie Tuukka Rask Signs One-Year Deal with Bruins
Fitzgerald Cecilio
Boston, MA
Goalkeeper Tuukka Rask has signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Boston Bruins, expecting to be the team's regular starter next season.
When the one-year deal expires, Rask will be a restricted free agent next summer unless there's a rule change in the new collective bargaining agreement
Rask, 25, started 22 games with the Bruins the past season, serving as back-up to Tim Thomas. He went 11-8 with a 2.05 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
He overshadowed Thomas as starter in the 2009-10 season but the latter regained the spot next season.
In 102 NHL games, all with the Bruins, Rask is 47-35-11 with 11 shutouts, a 2.20 GAA and .926 save percentage.
Next season, Rask's future as starter is clearer as Thomas told Bruins officials earlier this month that he doesn't plan on playing this season.
Thomas waived his no-trade clause before the NHL Draft as several teams had expressed interest in the two-time Vezina trophy winner but no deal was made involving him.
The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round of the 2005 NHL Draft but he was traded to the Bruins for former Calder Trophy winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft.
Rask signed a three-year contract with the Boston Bruins in 2007 and practiced with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL).
On November 5, 2007, Rask was called up from Providence to the Boston Bruins for the first time and two weeks later, he recorded his first NHL win, a 4-2 victory on the road against his former team the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After the start of the 2009-10 season, Rask signed a two-year extension with the Bruins to serve as backup Thomas.
In the 2009-10 regular season, Rask became the only goalie with a goals against average less than 2.00 and the only goalie with a save percentage over .930 when he supplanted Thomas as starter.
In the 2010-11 NHL season, Thomas returned to form, relegating Rask to a backup role, but he won the Stanley Cup with Boston, becoming only the second Finnish goaltender to do so, after Chicago's Antti Niemi the previous year.
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