Return of the Rask (?)

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SoSH's Doug Neidermeyer
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The general consensus from Bruins beat writers seems to be that it is no longer a matter of /if/ Tuukka Rask comes back, but when.

View: https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1465787821206261771?s=20


View: https://twitter.com/PierreVLeBrun/status/1467886926548111364?s=20


DJ Bean had an interesting article today where the ultimate take away that if signing Rask means demoting Swayman, the Bruins shouldn't sign Rask.

View: https://twitter.com/NBCSBoston/status/1467920380757221379?s=20


Complicating all this is Ullmarks NMC.

So if Tuukka is coming back - how do the Bruins handle this? Moving Swayman down seems like the most logical answer. But if Rask is back for more than one year, does Swayman + DeBrusk potentially net a haul that makes this team a true contender?

Sweeney has really backed himself into a corner with the Ullmark deal. It'll be interesting to see how he manuevers himself out of it.
 
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cshea

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I think they can manage through the end of the season. Swayman can go down for a bit, and the crazy post-Olympics schedule might afford them the opportunity to use 3 goalies.

The question for me is what's the future for Rask. Is he looking for a last hurrah this season, or does he intend on playing a few more years? He'll be 35 in March. Old but goalies tend to age better than skaters so it's not out of the realm of possibility he plays an additional 2-3 years. I'm not sure what happens if Rask signs for more than a year.
 

scottyno

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I'd love to know what the plan was over the summer. It seems like they knew the whole time that Rask coming back at some point was likely, and still signed Ullmark to that deal so they must have had something in mind.

In retrospect it's looking like keeping Vladar and going with the 2 kids until Rask was ready would have been the better choice, but it's understandable why they wouldn't want to do that.
 

ColdSoxPack

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There were people in here, me included, who were Ok with Rask walking away at his advanced age and salary. We now have a rookie goalie and a free-agent goalie, neither of whom have played their way into the number 1 goalie position. Now we need him back.

Who knows what Sweeney was thinking.
 

FL4WL3SS

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It's pretty simple. It was hard to predict what would happen with a 35 year old goalie coming off a major injury. He signed Ullmark because they wanted to compete and then you deal with the Rask situation when and if it happens.

Good problem to have.
 

CaptainBergy

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Sign Rask to a two way contract. Let him get some games in Providence. Ullmark will get hurt. He does every year.
 

burstnbloom

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Both EH and MoneyPuck.com have Ullmark in the positive in their models after last night's performance. He's been deeply below average in both goalie models all year. In EH's he was -9 GAR earlier this year. He's at 1.8 now. Still not good but obviously trending well.
 

Boston Brawler

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Tuukka signed an AHL tryout contract with Providence per a CBS Sports notification I just received.
 

cshea

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Rask was released from his Providence ATO today. He had practiced with them yesterday. It's unclear what the next move is for him as the Providence games were wiped out. The Bruins have a back-to-back tomorrow and Thursday with MTL and PHI in Boston so maybe they'll just play him tomorrow against a pretty weak MTL team? PHI is dealing with Covid so that game may be in jeopardy.

View: https://twitter.com/MarkDivver/status/1480915327827562501?s=20
 

PedroSpecialK

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Moore is up on emergency loan and Zboril is only on regular IR; I assume Rask's minimum + incentives deal takes the place of Zboril's $725k cap hit once JZ is shifted to LTIR.
 

cshea

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They are close to the cap right now, $35K under. If I'm them, first thing I do is move Zboril to LTIR to increase their ceiling by ~$715K. Now that they are home for the next 7 games, there's no need to carry taxi squad guys so they can demote Steven Fogarty's $750K. That gets them to ~$1.4 million in space. Swayman going down gets them to ~$2.4 million. That should be enough for Rask, he said he didn't care about the money.

There's going to be a lot of moving parts at F in the short term too. DeBrusk and Nosek are eligible to return from the protocol. Foligno and Frederic are being evaluated for injury so they could be LTIR candidates depending on the results. Steen is waiver exempt so he can go down but they said they want him here. At some point, there will be a crunch where they'll probably have to waive Kuhlman or Blidh to keep Steen. Vaak can go down too, but they are down to 6 D with Forbort and Clifton unavailable and in the protocol so they need him to play the next 3 games, minimum.

Also, McDonald thinks Rask signs today and plays on Thursday.

View: https://twitter.com/JoeyMacHockey/status/1480968928046338050?s=20
 
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LogansDad

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I fucking love Tuukka. There have to be less than 2 people on the planet with his skillset and history who agree to that deal.
 

burstnbloom

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Tuukka should gain god status around here for taking that deal. Alas, he won't bc this fanbase.
 

Salem's Lot

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That may be the best contract in the NHL right now. I feel bad about bitching about his $7 million cap hit for the first couple of years of his previous deal now.
 

cshea

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Guessing they'll make it official after the NHL closes for business for the day. No need in spending unecessary cap dollars.
 

IdiotKicker

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I'm neither a Tuukka hater or stan, but I'm kind of excited about this, just because I think Tuukka provides a higher ceiling than Ullmark or Swayman if he is healthy and locked in. Maybe I'm just overexuberant about the offensive explosion of the last couple weeks, but I'm starting to get a little excited about this team after two months of boring mediocrity.
 

Deathofthebambino

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What are the chances he plays tomorrow night? I'll be there with my son, and it would be fantastic to see him back.
 

Haunted

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I love this, but again I'm struck by the absolutely terrible roster management.
 

cshea

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What are the chances he plays tomorrow night? I'll be there with my son, and it would be fantastic to see him back.
Ullmark is starting tomorrow. Rask is backing up.

Swayman was/will be sent to Providence. He's obviously disappointed, but asked if he would get a chance if Rask or Ullmark struggle.

Edit: Swayman is not eligible for the taxi squad, apparently
 

BostonFanInCanesLand

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Tuukka giving tips to Bergy to prolong his career and stay fresh for the playoff run


Also, Sweeney still handing out NMCs like candy (/sports radio caller)

 

lexrageorge

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Well, Rask getting a NMC is a nothingburger, given that there is zero chance he is getting moved during the season.

I do wish the B's had kept Vladar instead of signing Ullmark. But it would be impossible for a GM under Jacobs/Neely to open the season with 2 unproven goaltenders to complement a veteran-heavy roster that is in GFIN mode via ownership edict. And Jacobs is not going anywhere anytime soon.
 

burstnbloom

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Going into this season with NO vet goaltender had too many ways for it to go wrong. If one of them is bad, it crushes the other one. If they are both just meh and Rask doesn't recover well, the season is sunk. If both are terrible, they have to give up assets just to get someone in here that's probably worse than Ullmark to stem the bleeding. I had less hope for this team without a second line center than I think the front office did, so I would have gone with a dirt cheap vet and rolled the dice, but I can't fault them for going the way they did.

Providence will be good for Swayman. He's a very good goaltender but he needs to build up his pitch count this year and he can do that in Rhode Island. He's been about average by the advanced metrics but I can see a scenario where 26 year old Swayman is a truly elite goaltender. This will ultimately be good for him.
 

The Napkin

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The worst thing that happened was Vladar had a nice game against the Bruins which is all people in Boston have seen of him. Because since that? (and really other than Ottawa?) Yikes.

48257
 

RedOctober3829

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Going into this season with NO vet goaltender had too many ways for it to go wrong. If one of them is bad, it crushes the other one. If they are both just meh and Rask doesn't recover well, the season is sunk. If both are terrible, they have to give up assets just to get someone in here that's probably worse than Ullmark to stem the bleeding. I had less hope for this team without a second line center than I think the front office did, so I would have gone with a dirt cheap vet and rolled the dice, but I can't fault them for going the way they did.

Providence will be good for Swayman. He's a very good goaltender but he needs to build up his pitch count this year and he can do that in Rhode Island. He's been about average by the advanced metrics but I can see a scenario where 26 year old Swayman is a truly elite goaltender. This will ultimately be good for him.
Billy Jaffe made a pretty good point on Swayman this morning on T&R. Most top quality goaltenders did not get the reins to an NHL team until they were 25-26 years old plus he's still so inexperienced. He just needs to be in a situation where he is playing a lot. That isn't Boston currently. Swayman will get his chance to be the starter at some point.
 

joe dokes

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All things considered -- especially covid and surgery things -- it's a good position for the team to have a major league-capable goalie just down the road.
 

BostonFanInCanesLand

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Yes, Swayman seeing a ton of pucks is a good thing. It’ll allow him to refine his technique with lower stakes (And is probably worth it, even thought they won’t be NHL-quality shots and circumstances).

I hope that Rask is a monster and carries the team on his back all the way to the Cup. The entire team can play with more confidence with him in the net. One possible ripple effect could be that D zone exits are crisper as a result of that confidence.

The team is kicking the can down the road as far as who will be the starter next year (and whether Swayman and Ullmark will be 1A/1B). Ullmark’s making too much coin to have a typical backup goalie load long term.

For now I’m just excited to see how this team does the rest of the year. This could be a lot of fun.

Going into this season with NO vet goaltender had too many ways for it to go wrong. If one of them is bad, it crushes the other one. If they are both just meh and Rask doesn't recover well, the season is sunk. If both are terrible, they have to give up assets just to get someone in here that's probably worse than Ullmark to stem the bleeding. I had less hope for this team without a second line center than I think the front office did, so I would have gone with a dirt cheap vet and rolled the dice, but I can't fault them for going the way they did.

Providence will be good for Swayman. He's a very good goaltender but he needs to build up his pitch count this year and he can do that in Rhode Island. He's been about average by the advanced metrics but I can see a scenario where 26 year old Swayman is a truly elite goaltender. This will ultimately be good for him.
 

FL4WL3SS

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Well, Rask getting a NMC is a nothingburger, given that there is zero chance he is getting moved during the season.

I do wish the B's had kept Vladar instead of signing Ullmark. But it would be impossible for a GM under Jacobs/Neely to open the season with 2 unproven goaltenders to complement a veteran-heavy roster that is in GFIN mode via ownership edict. And Jacobs is not going anywhere anytime soon.
What is Vladar doing this season that makes you say that? Ullmark has been markedly better and is playing better than Swayman.

A Tuukka/Ullmark duo is great. Swayman will get his time. I mean shit, Tuukka had to sit behind TT for a bit too.

Fucking love this move. If we're going to be mediocre, might as well get the band back together.

EDIT: should have read the other responses first, Vladar stuff covered
 

lexrageorge

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What is Vladar doing this season that makes you say that? Ullmark has been markedly better and is playing better than Swayman.

A Tuukka/Ullmark duo is great. Swayman will get his time. I mean shit, Tuukka had to sit behind TT for a bit too.

Fucking love this move. If we're going to be mediocre, might as well get the band back together.

EDIT: should have read the other responses first, Vladar stuff covered
Yeah, a couple of posters already set me straight on Vladar. Yikes, that was a miss!

I do see Swayman as needing some seasoning before being handed the #1 job; he does seem to give up some juicy rebounds at times. My impression of Ullmark is unfortunately colored by some really bad games earlier this season. He has been much better lately.

Rask/Ullmark, along with Pasta rejuvenating the 2nd line, and the McAvoy/Grz pairing are all making this team interesting again. Glad to see Cassidy make the adjustments during the CoVid break.
 

BostonFanInCanesLand

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Not really.

A Roethlesberger pic is a SOSH shorthand widely used when someone misses the joke or explains a joke that was clear on its face.

In this case I thought the tweet about the NMC was funny precisely because there was no earthly possibility that they’d trade Rask after he signed a super team-friendly contract and would only have signed with the Bruins in the first place.

I indicated this by using the tag “/sports radio caller” at the end of my comment.

You were, indeed, correct that the NMC is a nothingburger.

_____

I’m glad the Bruins have a seven-game homestand to get their new goalie tandem into a rhythm. And this came at a great time. Nothing like a winning streak to get everyone loose.