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Late in the 2005-06 season, former Boston Bruins president Harry Sinden decided to part ways with then basic supervisor (GM) Mike O’Connell. The Bruins had been properly on their option to a last-place end in the then Northeast Division and wanted a shake-up. After firing O’Connell, Sinden handed the reigns for the remainder of the season and the 2006 Entry Draft to assistant GM Jeff Gorton.
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Gorton was in control of getting the Black and Gold’s rebuild underway. Before the draft, Gorton made a flurry of trades and the largest identify despatched out of Boston was a defenseman, Nick Boynton, to the Arizona Coyotes. It was not the commerce with the Coyotes that labored out properly for Boston, nevertheless it was a cope with a division rival that turned the franchise’s fortune.
Gorton Makes 2 Trades With Toronto
On June 15, the Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs made a minor deal, nevertheless it was one other deal made 9 days later that set the Bruins up for the future. Gorton despatched 25-year-old goalie Andrew Raycroft to Toronto for the rights to a younger goaltender named Tuukka Rask.
Rask was chosen twenty first general in the 2005 Draft by the Maple Leafs, whereas Raycroft was coming off of his fifth season in Boston, however sported a sub .500 file with an 8-19-2 file with a 3.77 goals-against common (GAA) and only a .879 save proportion (SV%). Going ahead, he was not seen as the man in Boston, so Gorton, who was solely interim GM for a brief period of time, however his transfer to amass Rask turned out to be franchise-altering.
Rask’s Career in Boston
Following the commerce, Rask spent two seasons with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL). In these two campaigns in the AHL, he went 60-33-6 and had his greatest season in his second 12 months in 2008-09 when he had a 2.50 GAA and a .920 SV%. That can be his final season in the minors earlier than he made his dwelling everlasting in Boston.
Rask performed 45 video games in 2009-10, beginning 39 of them, and posting a 22-12-5 file with a career-low 1.97 GAA and a .931 SV%. Working that season with Tim Thomas, Rask received the nod in the playoffs and led the Bruins to a first-round upset of the third-seeded Buffalo Sabres. In the second spherical, Boston constructed a 3-0 collection lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in opposition to the Philadelphia Flyers, solely to lose the last 4 video games and the collection. Not part of historical past that anybody desires to be part of.
The following season was a giant rebound for the Bruins, who ended up profitable the 2011 Stanley Cup in seven video games over the Vancouver Canucks. Thomas returned in internet for the championship run and Rask was relegated to backup responsibility, however shortly after, Rask took over between the pipes and had practically a decade of success in Boston.
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Rask would take over in 2012-13 and had a run that a variety of goalies want they may have. Rask solidified the crease for former Bruins coaches Claude Julien and Bruce Cassidy. During his subsequent 9 seasons, Rask would lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012-13 and 2108-19. In 2012-13, the Bruins would lose in six video games to the Chicago Blackhawks, however the largest defeat occurred in the 2019 Final. The Bruins misplaced Game 7 at dwelling to the St. Louis Blues, 4-1, and it might be seen as the largest disappointing playoff run ending for their core group.
In the Toronto playoff bubble, Rask’s profession began a downward spiral in the summer season of 2020. He performed in 4 video games, profitable only one recreation, earlier than he left in the center of a first-round collection in opposition to the Carolina Hurricanes to go dwelling for a household emergency. Jaroslav Halak took over and completed the Hurricanes collection, earlier than the Bruins had been eradicated in the second spherical by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The following season of 2020-21 was a 56-game season with restricted journey due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. In 24 video games, he went 15-5-2 with a 2.28 GAA and a .913 SV% however suffered a hip harm that reduce down his play in the common season, however he was rested sufficient for a playoff run. He received six of the 11 postseason video games he performed in with a 2.36 GAA and a .919 SV%, however in the last three video games in opposition to the New York Islanders that Boston misplaced, it was obvious that Rask was not wholesome.
Following the elimination at the palms of the Islanders, Rask introduced that he was having hip surgical procedure and it could preserve him out till January or February in 2022. Rask ended up signing a contract and returning in Jan. 2022, nevertheless it didn’t go in addition to Rask or the Bruins would have favored. He would play in 4 video games, splitting his 4 outings with a whopping 4.28 GAA and a career-low .844 SV%. In early February he retired, ending his 15-year run sporting the Spoked-B.
Rask’s Legacy in Boston
Rask’s legacy in Boston is one the place he retired as one in all the greatest goalies in franchise historical past. He is first in regular-season video games performed with 564 and 308 wins. He ranks second with a 2.28 GAA and .921 SV% and shutouts with 52. Tiny Thompson is the franchise chief in shutouts with 74. In the postseason, he went 57-46 with a 2.22 GAA and a .925 SV% with seven shutouts.
Rask received the Vezina Trophy in 2013-14 as the league’s high goalie. He went 36-15-6 with a 2.04 GAA and a .930 SV% with seven shutouts. In the 70-game shortened 219-20 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, Rask and Halak combined to win the Jennings Trophy, handed out to the goaltending duo that every performed a minimal of 25 video games in a season with the fewest objectives allowed. They mixed to permit simply 174 objectives in 70 video games.
It is not going to be straightforward for any future goalies to high Rask’s profession in Boston. He set the benchmark for goaltending and was one in all the greatest, if not the greatest, to strap on the pads. His file and ranks in franchise historical past show that.
Raycroft’s Career in Toronto
Raycroft’s cease with the Maple Leafs was not a protracted one. He spent one and a half seasons in Toronto, however posted profession highs in 2006-07, his solely full season there. He performed in a career-high 72 video games, going 37-25-9 with a .299 GAA and a .894 SV%. His 37 wins had been a career-high, nevertheless it was not sufficient to get them to the playoffs as they completed ninth in the Eastern Conference and one level behind the New York Islanders for the last playoff berth.
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The subsequent season was a wrestle for Raycroft, which ended his time in Toronto. Following the 2007-08 marketing campaign the place he went 2-9-5 with a 3.92 GAA and likewise a .876 SV%, he was positioned on waivers in June of 2008 after the Maple Leafs purchased out the remaining phrases of his contract and he signed with the Colorado Avalanche.
Who Won the Trade?
It’s fairly clear that the Bruins received a commerce that was made by an interim GM who was only a placeholder between O’Connell and Peter Chiarelli. Gorton’s transfer gave Boston stability in internet for simply over a decade, regardless of the robust ending to Rask’s profession.
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Rask was every thing the Bruins hoped he can be. Two journeys to the Stanley Cup Final, with neither ending being his fault. An entire defensive breakdown in the late levels of the third interval by his protection in Game 6 in opposition to the Blackhawks ended the collection as Boston was trying to power a Game 7, then one other spherical of breakdowns in entrance of him in Game 7 in opposition to the Blues in 2019 felled the Black and Gold. Overall, it ended up being a commerce that turned the fortunes of the Bruins’ future by including a future Hall of Famer.
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