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Tuukka Rask Clarifies Retirement Comments

Tuukka Rask clarifies retirement comments and says he’ll talk with Bruins about extension.

It wasn’t long ago, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask got people talking when he publicly stated he might consider retirement after his current contract comes to an end. At that time, he said he might be ready for family time and noted about possibly calling it quits, “I have one year left in the contract, so we’ll see if I even play.” He was then asked if he might go to Europe where he could finish out his hockey career on a less hectic schedule, he said, “No, no, I wouldn’t”.

After seemingly realizing he might have stirred the pot with those comments, Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports Boston writes that Rask thought it was wise to clarify what he meant or was really thinking about the future of his NHL career.

Rask noted that he hasn’t made any career altering decisions. In other words, when he tossed that out there, he wasn’t actually saying he was retiring. He noted, “I’m sure we’re going to have good conversations with (Don Sweeney) after this season and go from there.” During an interview with WEEI’s Greg Hill, he added:

“But I’m only 34, so it’s not too old, might play another year or two and go from there. I don’t want to promise anything either way because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Rask said those initial comments were sort of taken out of context and that he wasn’t really sitting down for an interview when he was asked about his career. He was suggesting that his contract was up in 2021 and there were many ways he could go. He could re-sign, he could leave, he could retire…

While this sort of answers the question, ‘Should the Bruins fear losing Rask?’, it doesn’t necessarily put them at ease. Rask is open to signing again, and his $7 million salary for one or two years is probably a fair number to look at when wondering what a new deal might look like. That said, he certainly didn’t take retiring off the table.

The Bruins don’t really have a netminder in their pipeline to replace him so they might want to get on that. The alternative is extending Jaroslav Halak. But who knows, maybe all this talk comes from the fact that Rask realizes keeping these two as a duo is an expensive proposition for the Bruins.

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