Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney met with the media Tuesday following the re-signing of longtime B’s goalie Tuukka Rask, and he gave an update on Rask, as well as both Jeremy Swayman and Nick Foligno.
Rask will back up Linus Ullmark on Wednesday against the Canadiens, but Bruce Cassidy announced Wednesday that Boston intends to start Rask Thursday against the Flyers.
GM Don Sweeney was excited to have Rask back on the team.
“He’s had a hell of a career…but he wanted to play,” said Sweeney,” he wanted to see how he would feel with having had the surgery…he’s ready to go from a health standpoint and committed to our team.”
It wasn’t a surprise that Swayman was the man to get sent down after the Rask signing. Swayman has had a very up and down season so far, but most recently it’s been up for Swayman. In his previous five games, Swayman has posted an average of .909 save percentage boosting his save percentage to .918 on the season.
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“It’s generally not a straight, linear path,” Sweeney said. “Take the opportunity to work on your game and expand it and realize that there’s challenges associated with everybody’s professional career. And Jeremy, to his credit, recognizes all of those things. I think the single biggest thing that came out of my conversation today was he just stared at me and looked and said, ‘Well, if those two guys struggle, do I get the net?’
“That’s what you want to hear from a player. Any young player that has confidence in himself — and he’s had some success – will accept the fact that he’s got some things to continue to work on. Nut in a competitive environment that we’re trying to win, the best players are gonna play. And I don’t think Linus and Tuukka would look at it any differently.
“Hopefully it’s just a bump in the road for him in terms of it’s not a huge setback, it’s just go and gain some experience in some situations — we’ve got areas of his game we’d like him to continue to work on. He’s gonna be a goalie for us for a long time, and that’s ultimately what the message was.”
Nick Foligno Awaits MRI Results
Foligno was injured during the first period on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lighting. It’s a lower-body injury that caused him to miss Monday’s game against the Capitals. We will know more on the extent of the injury once the MRI results come in.
“Not sure,” Sweeney said when asked if Foligno will miss time. “We’re waiting for the MRI results to come back and Dr. [Peter] Asnis to give us the update. He was walking around and doing some little stuff this morning as well. Hopefully we’re on the shorter side of the injury.”
Trent Frederic Out Wednesday and Thursday
Trent Frederic is out Wednesday and Thursday with an upper body injury.