Kalman: Bruins' Rask Not Worried Workload Might Be Same in 2015-16
MIDDLETON (CBS) -- He played 70 games last season and his backup left for the riches of the KHL, but Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask isn't worried about being overworked in the upcoming season.
Despite setting a career-high for games played, the 28-year-old was one of the few bright spots for the Bruins during their first playoff-less season in eight years. Rask had a .922 save percentage and 2.30 goals-against average playing behind a Bruins defensive corps that was often battered by injuries.
Although he wants to play as much as he can, Rask probably could benefit from more rest this season. Nonetheless, there's no number of games he's targeting for his total in 2015-16.
"No, not really. I don't think you can put a number on it but a lot of things depend on how tight the games are or how many games you play in a row or stuff like that," he said before teeing off at ex-teammate Shawn Thornton's sixth annual Putts and Punches golf tournament at Ferncroft Country Club. "Last year it happened to be 70. If it's going to be like that, it's going to be like that again. And we'll play it by ear like that."
Four months removed from the end of the Bruins' disappointing season, Rask can confidently speak about maybe having to play just as much this season as last season because he knows he can handle it and he knows the recovery isn't as grueling as some might think.
"Not crazy," Rask said about the recovery time after the season. "I think obviously it's mentally draining when you're battling for that playoff spot and you play a lot of games in a row and stuff like that. You always feel kind of exhausted afterwards. But then when you do nothing for a week or two, then you're kind like, 'all right let's play hockey again.' You're kind of rejuvenated. I didn't feel like I took too much time than usual."
With one month remaining before the start of training camp, the Bruins don't seem too worried about not having a veteran understudy for Rask. Niklas Svedberg bolted for the KHL after one full NHL season. As it stands, Malcolm Subban, Zack McIntyre and Jeremy Smith – with one game of NHL experience among them – will compete for the No. 2 spot in camp. That would almost guarantee that a Bruins team expected to be in a similar position in the standings this season that it was in last season will have to lean on Rask maybe a little more than Boston wants to. Rask's not fretting over who's going to be behind him anymore than he's worried about having be among the League leaders in games played.
"I'm sure things are going to sort out," he said. "There's good young guys wanting to battle for a spot on the roster. And you know whatever, whoever it's going to be, I'm sure they're going to be very capable of playing games. We'll see how it plays out. But I'm sure that there's no reason to worry."
When Rask signed his eight-year, $56 million contract after the 2013 season, he could envision playing out the deal with Dougie Hamilton anchoring the defense corps after Zdeno Chara's time ended and Milan Lucic leading an offense heavy on both scoring and physicality. Both Hamilton and Lucic, in addition to several role players, are gone. The general manager that re-signed Rask a couple of times, Peter Chiarelli, is gone. New general manager Don Sweeney has re-worked the roster by adding Matt Beleskey and Jimmy Hayes for scoring up front and by making the defense corps a little less experienced and talented. Once among everybody's top three or four Stanley Cup contenders, the Bruins now are just a part of the pack of teams that could go either way.
Despite the lowered expectations from outsiders, Rask doesn't think he and the rest of the core, which includes Chara, Bergeron and David Krejci, have lowered the bar for what they want to accomplish.
"Well you know what, I think we've been through so many scenarios in past years, people put us up on a pedestal and you know pick us as the favorites. And then maybe now it's necessarily not the case," Rask said. "We know where we stand and when we talk as a team, and we practice and play as a team, we just try to focus on our own thing and not try to worry about what people on the outside say. But I think our approach has always been that we're doing our thing and we're doing as good as we can and see where it leads us."
That approach might require even more of a burden on Rask's back. But he sounds like a goaltender that's ready to carry that load.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
