Rumor: Reasons behind Tuukka Rask's stunning decision revealed.

On Saturday morning the Boston Bruins released a statement from goaltender Tuukka Rask, a statement that left fans of the Bruins organization absolutely stunned. In the announcement Rask explained that he would be pulling out of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs for family reasons but I have to admit given the information that is now coming out about this decision this may be a very tough pull for the Bruins fan base to swallow.

As I stated in our original story on this topic I would withhold judging Rask too harshly for this decision given that there could have been very legitimate reasons during a global pandemic for Rask to want to be with his family. If someone in his family had suddenly fallen ill I think every one of us could understand the desire to leave the bubble and be with that hypothetical individual, but it now sounds like this is in fact not the case here with Tuukka Rask. 

If anything it now appears as though Rask simply did not want to live in the bubble while being away from his family. Following the announcement Bruins general manager Don Sweeney addressed the media and was very diplomatic in regards to the stunning announcement from his top goaltender, stating that Rask has a newborn baby at home and hinting at the fact that this was the primary motivator behind the decision. 

"In Tuukka's case he has a newborn at home along with 2 young girls," said Sweeney on Saturday. "He just felt he needed to be home with them at this particular time. I give Tuukka a hell of a lot of credit for trying to persevere through. The priorities are in the right order & this is what he has to do"

I must admit I have a big problem with this decision from Rask. Did he not know there was a newborn at home before he made the commitment to entering the bubble? This now has not only cost the Bruins a potential body inside the bubble but it also means that they will now have to move forward with backup goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Thankfully for the Bruins Halak is a very capable backup, but would he not have been better prepared for his current predicament had Rask made this decision earlier in the tournament? 

What compounds the problem here for me as well is that Rask seemed to be a rather poor sport about losing games inside of the bubble as well. He recently made comments suggesting that he did not feel there was a real playoff atmosphere without fans, making the statement after a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

"It doesn’t really feel like playoff hockey right now. There’s no fans.It feels like an exhibition game," said Rask of the format.

It has seemed somewhat obvious to me based on his interviews and his body language during this tournament that Rask was never truly all in on the Return to Play, and that is a huge shame for a Bruins team that entered the tournament as one of the favorites. 

One last thing here as well. Rask only has 1 year left on his current deal and there have been questions about his future for some time now, including questions that have been raised as a result of Rask's own comments regarding his future. I have to wonder if we will see him back in the NHL next year after this latest development.

Update: Sportsnet's Chris Johnston suggests that we should not be reading anything beyond this season into Rask's decision.