It seems strange to suggest applauding Boston Bruins’ goaltender Tuukka Rask for opting out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs but he deserves it.
This year is a playoff year like no other, with the Boston Bruins roster, which until very recently included Tuukka Rask, stuck in a quarantined bubble in Toronto.
That can’t be an easy situation for any player to be in, much less for one that has a three month old and two other kids at home. It’s a brave decision to tell your team that you can’t continue to be there, which is exactly what Tuukka Rask opted to do.
While we did call out his commitment based on his recent press conference comments, it now makes much greater sense. In a world still struggling with the limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, family must absolutely come first.
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If this happens to be at the cost of the Boston Bruins, so be it. Given how much emphasis modern sports teams place on the mental health of their players, they really couldn’t allow Tuukka Rask to continue struggling in the bubble.
Now when you place his press conference statements into this context, it’s perfectly clear that his struggles to view this as playoff hockey could very well be tied to the fact he was in a hotel day and night missing his young family.
This isn’t the first time this season that he’s made allusions to the fact his family is his number one priority, with strong suggestions made that he may not pursue a new contract in a year’s time.
Disappointing for the Boston Bruins maybe and it certainly increases the challenge of winning the Stanley Cup this year, but Rask absolutely must not be held as any sort of scapegoat; his performances in the regular season were Vezina-worthy and are arguably what got us here in the first place.
If the Boston Bruins happen to lose games from here on out, it’s on the team. After all, the Rask they would likely have gotten had his mind focused firmly away from the rink.
We must credit the Bruins organisation in all of this too; they pay his wages and probably could’ve pushed him into staying.
To allow your leading goalie to head home speaks volumes to your confidence in the team but also shows an attitude of not just talking the talk when it comes to mental health. So fair play to them.