Depending on which side of the Tuukka Rask fence you’re on, you may finally be getting your wish.
According to TSN’s Frank Seravalli Bruins GM Don Sweeney has initiated conversation with teams
about Rask’s market value over the last number of weeks.
Rask sits 10th on Seravalli’s trade bait board.
“Vezina Trophy runner-up Tuukka Rask debuts on the board at No. 10. Many were wondering if there would be fallout from Rask’s decision to leave the bubble for family reasons, a decision that was certainly supported by teammates. But multiple sources indicate that Bruins GM Don Sweeney has initiated conversations with teams about Rask’s market value over the last number of weeks.,” Seravalli wrote in Thursday’s Trade Bait column.
While this in no way guarantees that the Bruins will trade their Vezina Trophy finalist, hearing that Sweeney is the one initiating trade talks and getting a feel for what a market for Rask would look like is rather interesting.
As you’re aware, Rask left the Toronto bubble in August after five games, citing a family emergency as to what caused him to dip on the NHL’s return to play procedures, and Stanley Cup Playoff format.
While given public support from teammates, head coach Bruce Cassidy, Team President Cam Neely and Sweeney himself, this rumor is certainly a surprising one.
“I have zero reservations about where Tuukka will be both on and off the ice for us,” Sweeney said last month of his thoughts on Rask’s status for the upcoming season.
“We feel we’ve had strong goaltending the last couple of years, we’ve done a good job of mapping out the health of both players and preserving when they’re at their best. We continue to want to do that going forward and I think we’re in a really good spot with our goaltending. We’ll address needs as we see them going forward.”
In under a month, it appears the Bruins have gone from fully expecting Rask to rejoin the team as the Bruins 1A goalie in their 1A/1B tandem, to calling teams around the league, gauging the market value for the 33-year old Rask. An interesting turn of events, indeed.
But if Sweeney does decide to trade Rask, is that a smart move?
Well, I guess it depends on how close Sweeney and Bruins management feel the Bruins truly are to winning a Stanley Cup.
In his end of the season media availability last month, Neely mentioned the Bruins need to be “as brutally honest as possible” in assessing where the team will be over the next couple years.
After seeing the Tampa Bay Lightning roll through the Blue Jackets, Bruins, Islanders and Stars en route to a Stanley Cup Championship, have the Bruins realized they’re not quite on Tampa Bay’s level, and may not be for a few years?
Having talks with other teams about Rask’s trade value seemingly signals that.
"Can we compete for a Stanley Cup? And if we can, what do we have to do to our roster to do that? We have to really be honest with ourselves in assessing our team and assessing our players in the organization. See where we’re going, where we think we really are going to be,” said Neely.
“I mean, we have to be as honest, as brutally honest as possible, about where we think we’re going to be in the next couple years and we have to react accordingly to that."
If the Bruins see themselves as Stanley Cup contenders in the next few years, or at worst feel the upcoming 2020-21 season is their last crack at a Cup with their aging core, then a trade of Rask makes zero sense.
Rask and Jaroslav Halak have proven to be one of, if not the best goalie tandem in hockey. We saw in the 2019 playoffs what a rested playoff Rask could do, leading the Bruins to a Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final.
From an on-ice standpoint, Rask has done nothing to lead you to believe he couldn’t do it again in 2020-21. While Halak was the perfect backup to Rask, his performance in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs didn’t do much to solidify the notion that Halak still had what it takes to lead a team to a Stanley Cup championship.
If Sweeney, Neely and the rest of the management team have decided their Stanley Cup window is closed, and big changes are needed to reopen the window, then trading Rask does make some sense.
While Rask has gone on record saying he does not plan on retiring after his contract expires following the 2020-21 season, Rask enters the final year of a eight-year contract that pays him $7 million annually.
But now, after leaving the bubble in what was clearly an unenjoyable experience for Rask, who knows where his head is at and where he currently stands in regards to what his hockey future looks like beyond the upcoming season.
For a team that feels they’re on the brink of being a Stanley Cup contender and the addition of a goalie with the talent Rask has is the difference maker, then a trade makes absolute sense for that team.
Trading Rask would make the Bruins players in the goalie free agent market when free agency opens later this month, a market that includes some interesting names and ones that like Rask did with Halak, can form a consistently reliable 1A/1B tandem.
While the goalie market is expected to be an expensive one, names like Braden Holtby, Robin Lehner, Jacob Markstrom, Thomas Greiss and Cam Talbot are a few intriguing names.
Which direction the Bruins go with Rask, and who replaces him if they do trade him will tell us a lot about where management feels the Bruins are at.
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