Tuukka Rask

Tuukka Rask
Born	(1987-03-10) 10 March 1987 Savonlinna, Finland
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	171 lb (78 kg; 12 st 3 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
NHL team Former teams	Boston Bruins HC Plzeň (CZE) Ilves (SM-liiga)
NHL Draft	21st overall, 2005 Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career	2004–present

Tuukka Rask

Medal record
Competitor for Finland
Men's ice hockey
World Junior Hockey Championships
Bronze	2006 Canada

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.

Playing career

Finland

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

He then played in 26 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 top-flight SM-liiga.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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.

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's 2006–07 playoff run for the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Calder Cup championship. 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) and Tim Thomas (.869), and Kevin Regan (.857), but 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.

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.

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. Although he was 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, he was not named as a finalist for the rookie of the year award, despite having supplanted the Vezina Trophy winner Thomas as the starter. In the 2010-11 NHL season, Thomas returned to form, making Rask once again the backup, but he won the Stanley Cup with Boston, becoming only the second Finnish goaltender to do so, after Chicago's Antti Niemi the previous year.

On June 28, 2012 Rask resigned with the Boston Bruins on a one-year, $3.5 million dollar deal.

Prior to the declaration of the 2012-2013 season 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.

During the NHL lockout (which ended on January 6, 2013), during 2012 he played for HC Plzeň in the Czech Republic.

Career statistics

Regular season

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
NHL totals				102	47	35	—	11	5690	209	11	2.20	.926

Playoffs

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

External links

• Tuukka Rask's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Alexander Steen	Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick 2005	Succeeded by Jiří Tlustý
Preceded by Tim Thomas	Winner of the Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award 2009–10	Succeeded by Tim Thomas