Tuukka Rask

Tuukka Rask
Rask in January 2016
Born	(1987-03-10) 10 March 1987 Savonlinna, Finland
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position	Goalie
Catches	Left
NHL team Former teams	Boston Bruins Ilves HC Plzeň
National team	Finland
NHL Draft	21st overall, 2005 Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career	2004–present

Rask is congratulated by Tomáš Vokoun following the Bruins sweep over the Penguins in the 2013 playoffs.

Rask in 2013

Tuukka Mikael Rask (born 10 March 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 24 June 2006, his rights were traded to the Bruins in exchange for goaltender Andrew Raycroft, since deemed one of the most one-sided trades in NHL history. He is the older brother of Joonas Rask, who plays professionally as a forward with HIFK in the Finnish Liiga.

In 2015, a recently discovered species of wasp in Kenya was named Thaumatodryinus tuukkaraski in direct reference to the Bruins goaltender. The reasoning given by the authors was that "[t]his species is named after the acrobatic goaltender for the Finnish National ice hockey team and the Boston Bruins, whose glove hand is as tenacious as the raptorial fore tarsus of this dryinid species”.^[1][2]

Playing career

Finland

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.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round, 21st overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Before playing a single regular season game for Toronto, however, he was traded to the Boston Bruins for former Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Toronto management had deemed Justin Pogge their potential goaltender of the future, thereby rendering Rask expendable. It was later revealed that the Bruins intended to release Raycroft, which would have made him available to Toronto without having to give up Rask.^[3]

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.^[4]

Boston Bruins

Rask as a member of the Boston Bruins.

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.^[5][6] 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 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 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

In the 2009–10 regular season, Rask was the only goalie with a GAA of less than 2.00 and the only goalie with a save percentage over .930.^[9][10] 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,^[11] 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, however, 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 on a one-year, $3.5 million deal. 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 7 February 2013.^[12] During the lockout, which ended on 6 January 2013, he 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.^[13]

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 10-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 defense (2.08 goals allowed per game).^[14]

International play

Olympics

Medal record
Representing  Finland
Men's ice hockey
Olympic Games
	2014 Sochi
World Junior Hockey Championships
	2006 Canada

Rask played in four of Finland's six games en route to the Bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics,^[15] including a 3–1 defeat of host nation Russia in the quarter-finals,^[16] and a shut-out of the United States in the Bronze medal game.^[17]

World Cup of Hockey

On 2 March, 2016, it was revealed that Rask was to be starting goaltender for Team Finland In the World Cup of Hockey 2016, with Pekka Rinne as their second. Rask played in two out of three tournament games and in one out of three pretournament games.^[18]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	W	L	T/OTL	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
2004	Finland	WJC18	7th		5	1	1	3	299	8	1	1.61	.927
2005	Finland	WJC18	7th		5	2	3	0	278	14	0	3.02	.910
2005	Finland	WJC	5th		5	—	—	—	243	12	0	2.96	.902
2006	Finland	WJC	03 !		6	—	—	—	369	13	1	2.11	.940
2007	Finland	WJC	6th		6	—	—	—	332	17	0	3.07	.899
2014	Finland	OG	03 !		4	3	1	0	243	7	1	1.73	.937
2016	Finland	WCH	8th		2	0	2	0	119	4	0	2.02	.920
Junior totals					27	—	—	—	1521	64	2	—	—
Senior totals					6	3	3	0	362	11	1	1.87	.928

Awards and honors

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tuukka Rask.

• Tuukka Rask's career statistics at EliteProspects.com
  
• Tuukka Rask's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• Tuukka Rask biography at hockeygoalies.org