The Boston Bruins netminder signed a one-year contract worth $1 million on Tuesday. Tuukka Rask returns to the team after having off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. 

The biggest question mark for the Bruins going into this season was goaltending. Both goalies on the Bruins roster have played exceptionally well. 

Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have split starts this season with each starting 16 games and both of them have a winning record. Ullmark has the better record of the two with 11 wins and 5 losses in those 16 starts and has posted a .917% save percentage. 

The Bruins plan to send Swayman to the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League to make room for Rask on the roster. Swayman is currently 23 years old and has eight wins, five losses and two overtime losses with a .918% save percentage. 

Sending Swayman down to the AHL to develop his skills a little bit more while a more veteran player like Ullmark fills the backup role behind Rask, or even starting in front of Rask if he is rusty out the gate will benefit the Bruins as the season goes along. 

Rask has won the Vezina trophy in the 2013-14 NHL season as the NHL’s best goalie. That is a long time ago, but Rask has been nominated for the award five times in his career and finished 2nd in voting for the award in the 2019-20 NHL season. 

Rask is an elite talent that has been added to a team that can heat up at a moment’s notice. To get Rask on a deal that won’t affect the team’s cap space is huge as it opens the door to possibly land a key piece at the trade deadline to set them up for a playoff push. 

The Bruins have been struggling this season as they currently sit in the second Wild Card in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins are nine points away from 3rd place in the Atlantic division behind the Toronto Maple Leafs.

-Evan Hale- The Halftimers/ Olde City Sports Network