Could Rask sign a Rinne type extension?
Joe Haggerty of NBC Boston: 33-year old Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask is entering the last year of his contract that carries a $7 million cap hit. The Bruins might not be able to afford to an extension. A flat salary cap for the next couple of seasons definitely won’t help the Bruins.
That said, the Bruins don’t have a lot salaries committed for the 2021-22 season. David Krejci‘s $7.5 million contract expires after next season as well.
Rask will be 35-years old when his next contract would kick in. He has mentioned retired in the past, but a couple of months ago he did say that he hadn’t thought about retiring.
“I haven’t thought about retirement at all,” Rask said. “I know that this , I can start talking to the Bruins about a possible extension. When that day comes, we’ll see what happens. But definitely I haven’t put any thought into retirement, nothing like that. We’ll see how this season plays out, and then we’ll see if there’s extension talks.”
If the Bruins are able to have a backup that can play 30-plus games, maybe they could convince Rask to take a Pekka Rinne type deal – two years at $5 million per season.
What the Blues protected list could look like for the Seattle expansion draft
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic: For the Vegas expansion draft the St. Louis Blues went with seven forwards, three defense and one goaltender. Five of those players are no longer with the team – Paul Stastny, Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, Ryan Reaves and Joel Edmundson.
For the Seattle expansion draft, Klim Kostin and Scott Perunovich won’t need to be protected. If Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou play one NHL game, they’ll need to be protected.
The Blues would likely go with the 7-3-1 approach for the Seattle draft as well. Projecting their protected list.
Forwards – Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O’Reilly, Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, and Oskar Sundqvist.
Defensemen – Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko and Vince Dunn.
Goaltender – Jordan Binnington.
If Pietrangelo re-signs he’ll be protected. If he doesn’t sign an extension Justin Faulk would likely be protected.
Jaden Schwartz will be free agent after next season. If the Blues extend Pietrangelo there may not be enough money to extend Schwartz.