Tuukka Rask tosses cold water on rumors of retirement.

The rumors regarding a potential retirement for Tuukka Rask at the end of his contract appear to have been somewhat premature. To be fair the rumors popped up when Rask himself made some comments regarding what would come next for him at the end of his current deal with the Boston Bruins, but on Monday Rask buried all of those rumors when he spoke to several members of the Boston media during a Zoom call.

Rask was asked about the retirement rumors during the call and the veteran goaltender indicated that the thought of potentially retiring had not yet even crossed his mind at this stage of his career. 

“Not really. I haven’t thought about retirement at all,” Rask said as per Boston Hockey Now.. “It’s been such weird times that I’ve put full focus on my family at this time and just tried to enjoy that. But last summer was very short, the past two seasons have kind of combined together it felt like, so I’ve kind of used this time off just to get my mind off of hockey and focus on family. We travel a lot and it gets taxing mentally sometimes to be away from your family, so I just try to refocus my energy to the family and just be present here at home.” 

In fact to hear Rask talk about it today it sounds like not only would retirement not be an option for him right now, but he may not retire anytime soon, assuming of course he remains healthy and can maintain an NHL level of form. 

“I’ve never really thought about that — the age, number. … So far, I still have that passion to keep playing,” Rask said. “Maybe it’s 36, 37 — maybe I’ll be the goalie that plays until he’s 45, maybe not.”

It seems like Rask's uncertainty following his next deal stems more from the fact that he is uncertain about what will come next after his current contract. Rask mentioned that he did not know whether or not he and the Bruins would discuss an extension come the end of the season, but it seems like the thought is at the very least on his mind.

“I know that this summer I can start talking to the Bruins about a possible extension, and when that day comes we’ll see what happens,” he said. “But I definitely haven’t put any thought into retirement or anything like that. We’ll see how this season plays out and then we’ll see if there are extension talks that happen.”