Tuukka Rask

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Tuukka Rask
Tuukka Rask 091031.jpg
Born (1987-03-10) 10 March 1987 (age 27)
Savonlinna, Finland
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
NHL team
Former teams		 Boston Bruins
HC Plzeň (CZE)
Ilves (SM-liiga)
National team  Finland
NHL Draft 21st overall, 2005
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career 2004–present
Tuukka Rask
Medal record
Competitor for  Finland
Men's ice hockey
Olympic Games
Bronze 2014 Sochi
World Junior Hockey Championships
Bronze 2006 Canada
Rask is congratulated by Tomáš Vokoun following the Bruins sweep over the Penguins in the 2013 playoffs.

Tuukka Mikael Rask (born March 10, 1987) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Rask was drafted 21st overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. On June 24, 2006 his rights were traded to the Bruins in exchange for goaltender Andrew Raycroft. He is the brother of Nashville forward Joonas Rask.

Playing career[edit]

Finland[edit]

Rask started his career in the youth teams of his hometown club SaPKo in Savonlinna, Finland.

He then played in 27 games for the Tampere-based Ilves Jr. in the Finnish Junior League. His goals against average (GAA) was 1.86 with two shutouts and a .935 save percentage. He was the top ranked European goaltender in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

Rask played his last European ice hockey season as the number one goaltender for the Ilves senior team in the Finnish top-flight SM-liiga.

Toronto Maple Leafs[edit]

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round (21st overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Before playing a single regular season game for Toronto he was traded to the Boston Bruins for former Calder Trophy winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Toronto management had deemed Justin Pogge their potential goaltender of the future, and Rask became expendable. It was later revealed that the Bruins intended to release Raycroft, which would have made him available to Toronto without giving up Rask.[1]

Boston Bruins[edit]

On 5 May 2007, Rask signed a three-year contract with the Boston Bruins, and was in attendance to observe the Providence Bruins's 2006–07 playoff run for the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Calder Cup championship.[2][3] The Providence team did not make it past the second round of the Calder Cup against the Manchester Monarchs, but Rask practiced with the Providence team briefly.

On 5 November 2007, Rask was called up from Providence to the Boston Bruins for the first time. Just two weeks later, on 20 November, he recorded his first NHL win, a 4–2 victory on the road against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On 3 October 2008, the Bruins assigned Rask to the Providence Bruins. Rask had the best save percentage (.952) among the goalies in pre-season play, followed by teammates Manny Fernandez (.875), Tim Thomas (.869), and Kevin Regan (.857). Despite this the team decided to go with the two veteran goaltenders, Thomas and Fernandez, for the 2008–09 season.

With nagging back spasms keeping Fernandez from play shortly after the All-Star Game break, Rask was once again called up to serve as a second goaltender, and on 31 January 2009 he played his first (and only) game with the Bruins in the 2008–09 season, and earned his first ever NHL shutout, a 1–0 home effort against the New York Rangers, with Marc Savard scoring the only Bruins goal.[4]

Not long after the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Rask, who had been named the backup goaltender to Thomas, signed a two-year extension to his contract with the Bruins on 5 November 2009 that kept him under contract through the 2011–12 season.[5]

In the 2009-10 regular season, Rask was the only goalie with a goals against average less than 2.00 and the only goalie with a save percentage over .930.[6][7] Despite having been the only qualifying rookie in NHL history to lead the league with a sub-2.00 goals against average as well as lead the league in save percentage,[8] and having supplanted the Vezina Trophy winner Thomas as the starter, Rask was not named as a finalist for the rookie of the year award. In the 2010-11 NHL season, Thomas returned to form, making Rask once again the backup. With the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup for Boston, Rask became only the second Finnish goaltender to do so, after Antti Niemi of the Chicago Blackhawks the previous year.

On June 28, 2012 Rask re-signed with the Boston Bruins on a one-year, $3.5 million deal.[9]

Prior to the declaration of the 2012–13 lockout, Rask was named as the starting goalie for the Bruins, replacing Tim Thomas, who would eventually be traded to the New York Islanders on February 7, 2013.[10] Rask led the Bruins to their second Stanley Cup final in 3 years, but they lost in 6 games to the Chicago Blackhawks.

On July 10, 2013, the Bruins re-signed Rask to an eight-year, $56 million contract.

HC Plzeň during 2012 - 2013 NHL Lockout[edit]

During the NHL lockout (which ended on January 6, 2013), during 2012 he played for HC Plzeň which won the Czech Extraliga that year.

International[edit]

Rask played in four of Finland's six games en route to the Bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics,[11] including a shut-out of USA in the Bronze medal game.[12]

Career statistics[edit]

Regular season[edit]

Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2004–05 Ilves FNL 4 0 1 1 — 202 15 0 4.46 .875
2005–06 Ilves FNL 30 12 7 8 — 1724 60 2 2.09 .926
2006–07 Ilves FNL 49 18 18 10 — 2872 114 3 2.38 .928
2007–08 Providence Bruins AHL 45 27 13 — 2 2570 100 1 2.33 .905
2007–08 Boston Bruins NHL 4 2 1 — 1 184 10 0 3.25 .886
2008–09 Providence Bruins AHL 57 33 20 — 4 3340 139 4 2.50 .915
2008–09 Boston Bruins NHL 1 1 0 — 0 60 0 1 0.00 1.000
2009–10 Boston Bruins NHL 45 22 12 — 5 2562 84 5 1.97 .931
2010–11 Boston Bruins NHL 29 11 14 — 2 1594 71 2 2.67 .918
2011–12 Boston Bruins NHL 23 11 8 — 3 1289 44 3 2.05 .929
2012–13 Boston Bruins NHL 36 19 10 — 5 2104 70 5 2.00 .927
NHL totals 138 66 45 — 16 7794 279 16 2.15 .927

Playoffs[edit]

Season Team League GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2006 Ilves FNL 3 0 3 180 7 0 2.33 .924
2007 Ilves FNL 7 2 5 397 20 0 3.02 .924
2008 Providence Bruins AHL 10 6 4 605 22 2 2.18 .908
2009 Providence Bruins AHL 16 9 7 977 36 0 2.21 .930
2010 Boston Bruins NHL 13 7 6 829 36 0 2.61 .910
2013 Boston Bruins NHL 22 14 8 1466 46 3 1.88 .940

References[edit]

  1. ^ Simmons, Steve (June 9, 2013). "Simmons: Bruins would have taken Pogge instead of Rask from Maple Leafs for Raycroft". The Toronto Star. Retrieved June 9, 2013. 
  2. ^ Bruins press release
  3. ^ Boston.com article
  4. ^ http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20082009/GS020731.HTM
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ NHL.com statistics
  7. ^ NHL.com statistics
  8. ^ Single Season Goaltending Leaders
  9. ^ https://www.twitter.com/#!/tsnbobmckenzie
  10. ^ "ISLANDERS ACQUIRE GOALTENDER THOMAS FROM BRUINS". TSN.ca. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013. 
  11. ^ http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/388/IHM400000_83_58_0_FIN.pdf
  12. ^ http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/388/IHM400102_74_3_0.pdf

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tuukka Rask.
Preceded by
Alexander Steen		 Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick
2005		 Succeeded by
Jiří Tlustý
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