AP Source: Rask agrees to deal to return to Bruins goal
BOSTON (AP) — Goalie Tuukka Rask is signing a prorated, $1 million contract for the rest of the season with the Boston Bruins, according to a person with knowledge of the move.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced. The 2014 Vezina Trophy winner will make $545,000 for the rest of the season.
Rask, 34, was a free agent who remained unsigned while he recovered from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. He said at the end of last season that he did not want to play for anyone other than Boston.
“This is our home,” he said. “At this point of my life and my career, I don’t see any reason to go anywhere else, especially with the health I’m looking at now and a recovery time of five or six months. Hopefully it works out that I recover well and we can talk about contracts when the time is right for that.”
Rask played in only 24 games last season as the team managed his workload. He missed three weeks in March and April but said that was because his back seized up when he was compensating for the hip injury.
Rask’s next game action will be his first since June, when he allowed four goals in a Game 6 loss to the New York Islanders in Boston’s second-round loss in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I feel great,” Rask said last week during a video conference call with reporters. “The biggest issue for me was the catching of the joint and the pain that created. So that all is gone. … I don’t have to think about it locking up on me again and creating that pain, so I feel great.”
Rask said he never really considered retiring this offseason. The lure of being able to make one more run at a Stanley Cup and finish out his career alongside stars Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand played a factor in his decision to attempt a comeback.
“A lot,” Rask said last week. “That’s why I never really, in my head wanted to flirt with opportunity to go somewhere else. … For us as players when you have a team like the Bruins, basically a bunch of us have grown up together. So, you kind of feel that brotherhood. You don’t want to leave guys on bad terms.
“I just wanted to come back and maybe be helpful and try to finish it out with a bunch of those guys I’ve played with my whole career.”
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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower and AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this story.
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