Tuukka Rask

Rask started his career in the youth teams of his hometown club SaPKo in Savonlinna, Finland. He then played in 28 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.

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

The trade has since been examined as one of the worst trades in Maple Leafs franchise history; Rask would experience many seasons of success with the Bruins, eventually winning the Stanley Cup and Vezina Trophy, while Raycroft would only play two seasons for Toronto, recording disappointing statistics in the process.[2]

Rask with the Providence Bruins during the 2008–09 AHL season.

On 5 May 2007, Rask signed a three-year contract with the Boston Bruins and was in attendance to observe the Providence Bruins' 2006–07 playoff run for the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Calder Cup championship.[3][4] The Providence team did not make it past the second round of the Calder Cup against the Manchester Monarchs, but nonetheless Rask practiced with the Providence team.

On 5 November 2007, Rask was called up 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 reassigned Rask to Providence. 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 opted 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.[5]

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 that kept him under contract through to the 2011–12 season.[6]

In the 2009–10 regular season, Rask was the only goaltender in the NHL with a GAA of less than 2.00 and the only goaltender with a save percentage over .930.[7][8] Despite having been the only qualifying rookie in NHL history to lead the league with a sub-2.00 GAA, as well as lead the league in save percentage,[9] and having supplanted the Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas as the starter, Rask was not named as a finalist for the rookie of the year award. In the 2010–11 season, Thomas returned to form, effectively relegating Rask once again to the backup role. With the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, Rask became only the second Finnish goaltender to do so, after Antti Niemi of the Chicago Blackhawks accomplished the feat the previous year.

On 28 June 2012, Rask re-signed with the Bruins to a one-year, $3.5 million contract. Prior to the declaration of the 2012–13 lockout, Rask was named as the starting goaltender for the Bruins, replacing Tim Thomas, who would eventually be traded to the New York Islanders on 7 February 2013.[10] During the lockout, which ended on 6 January 2013, Rask played for HC Plzeň, which won the Czech Extraliga that year. After the NHL resumed play, Rask led the Bruins to their second Stanley Cup finals in three years in the 2013 playoffs. In the third round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Rask faced 136 shots in four games played, allowing two goals while making 134 saves for a 0.50 GAA and a .985 save percentage. In the Stanley Cup finals, the Bruins were defeated in six games by the Chicago Blackhawks, as Rask registered a .932 save percentage. [11]

Rask with the Boston Bruins during the 2013–14 NHL season.

On 10 July 2013, the Bruins re-signed Rask to an eight-year, $56 million contract. Following the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Rask was awarded the NHL's Vezina Trophy, awarded to the "goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at his position". He posted a 36–15–6 record, highlighted by a career-best ten-game points-won streak from 20 to 30 March, going 9–0–1, as the Bruins captured their first Presidents' Trophy since 1990 and led the Eastern Conference in team defence (2.08 goals allowed per game).[12]

Early in the 2016–17 regular season, Rask sustained a groin injury[13] that somewhat hampered his abilities much of the season following a successful October campaign, starting the 2016–17 season with 12 wins and a .938 save percentage in 17 games. He was likely used more often than usual, with the Bruins suffering from "backup goaltender" challenges early in the season, but not enough of a hindrance to help lead the Bruins to the 2017 playoffs, the Bruins' first in three seasons. Following a six-game quarterfinal series with the Bruins losing to the Ottawa Senators four games to two, Rask successfully underwent groin surgery on 9 May 2017.[14] In mid-August, Rask said he expected to be ready for the Bruins' training camp for the 2017–18 season.[15]

In the 2017–18 season, from 26 November 2017 to 10 February 2018, Rask had a career-high 21-game point streak.[16] Rask and the Bruins ended up finishing the season with 50 wins and 112 points, their best season since their 2013–14 Presidents' Trophy-winning season.[17] He played only 54 games, his lowest since that same 2013–14 season, posting a 34–14–5 record with a 2.36 GAA and a .917 save percentage. In the 2018 playoffs, the Bruins were defeated in the second round in five games by the Tampa Bay Lightning, with Rask playing 12 games total in the playoffs and posting a 2.88 GAA and .903 save percentage, his lowest since his first postseason in 2010.

On 1 January 2019, Rask set a new record for games played by a Bruins goaltender with his 469th game, surpassing Tiny Thompson's record set in the 1938–39 NHL season.[18] However, Rask was later placed on injured reserve by the Bruins on 28 January after sustaining a concussion. At the time of his injury, Rask had a 14–8–3 record in 25 starts.[19] Rask returned to the Bruins lineup on 31 January in a 3–2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. It was his first start in a game since 19 January.[20] On 3 February 2019 against the Washington Capitals, Rask recorded a shutout to become the career leader for wins by a goaltender in Bruins history, again surpassing Tiny Thompson.[21]

Rask helped the Bruins to the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, though they ultimately lost in seven games to the St. Louis Blues. Rask recorded a 15–9 record with a 2.02 goals against average and a .934 save percentage during the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Rask played his 500th game in the NHL on 2 October 2019, a 4–2 Bruins victory over the Maple Leafs.

On 10 March 2020, his 33rd birthday, Rask recorded the 50th shutout of his career, against the Philadelphia Flyers.

On August 15, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and the NHL's Return to Play program, Rask opted to leave the playoffs, exit the "bubble" in Toronto in which teams were quarantined, and return to his family after playing five games in the "bubble", which included two games against the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.[22] After the playoffs, he revealed that the reason he left was his daughter going through an undisclosed medical emergency. [23]

Bold indicates led league

• Most games played by a Boston Bruins Goaltender in franchise history.[35]
• Most wins by a Boston Bruins goaltender in franchise history.[36]
• Most shutouts in playoff series-clinching games in franchise history.[37]
• Longest season-opening home point streak in Boston Bruins history.[38]