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Tuukka Rask inks contract with Boston Bruins… and Bud Light??

By Ian Oland

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January 11, 2022 10:40 pm

Tuukka Rask signed a one-year, $1 million prorated deal with the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Rask, 34, has not played since undergoing offseason hip surgery in July on a torn labrum. Before going under the knife, Rask was open to the possibility of retiring if rehab went poorly.

“I’ll start the recovery process and then we’ll see what the future holds after that,” Rask said during the Bruins’ final media session of the year. “Hopefully the recovery goes well and I’ll be ready to play hockey at some point next year.”

The deal will pay the 2014 Vezina Trophy-winner only $545k. The Bruins sent goaltender Jeremy Swayman down to the minors to make room for Rask.

Rask has been practicing with the Bruins for the last few weeks. He was set to make a rehab start for the Providence Bruins over the weekend but both of their games were postponed due to COVID-19.

“I think we had an understanding going through the process, if he was healthy, that he was gonna try and play,” Bruins’ general manager Don Sweeney said to NHL.com. “Credit goes to Tuukka and [agent] Markus Lehto to committing to the outline of what we felt we had to have happen salary-wise with the contract. Tuukka was committed to that, just wanting to be part of a group that he’s spent his entire career with.”

While Rask’s contract is low on money, it’s big on incentives. And by incentives, I mean cases of Bud Light. After announcing the deal on social media, Rask angled for a “budlight addendum” to be added to his contract via Twitter.

It worked. Bud Light drew up a “very official contract” showing how Rask could earn “a significant amount of beer” by seasons end.

Welcome back to the NHL, Tuukka. It’s so much more boring without you.

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