Tuukka Rask addresses leave of absence, adds he’s ‘ready to battle with these guys’

After spending the weekend away from the Bruins while attending to a personal matter, Tuukka Rask made his return to the team on Tuesday morning  following his leave of absence — taking part in Boston’s morning skate before heading out on a four-game trek out west.

Following practice at Warrior Ice Arena, Rask addressed the media — opening the scrum with a statement noting that he took time away from the club to focus on his family.

Below are Rask’s full opening remarks:



“If I can just open up, and if you guys have any questions — I’ll be happy to answer them. First and foremost, I want to thank all the people who sent me messages and contacted me and supported me. Second of all, I want to thank the Boston Bruins for giving me the opportunity to take time off with my family.

"I've never been more proud to be a part of this family with the Boston Bruins.  Because we talk about it, obviously, this is a family and we are a family and we all take care of each other when times are tough. That being said - I have a job.  My job is to be a hockey goalie for the Boston Bruins. But I also have another job and title and that's a family man and this was a time where, deep inside my heart, I felt like I needed to take the time to be with my family and make things right so I can be back here and focus on my job. That took three days. I’m back here, I’m back to work and I’m ready to battle with these guys.

"At the end of the day, I realize that a hockey career is a very short career. But your life is much longer than that. I appreciate I got the privacy and the time I need. I’m ready to move on now. Thank you.”

For Rask, the decision to spend time away from the Bruins was far from easy, but one that he does not regret when looking back.

“Things happen in people's lives that you do some soul searching and try to see what the best answer is," Rask said. "Like I said, there was a time where deep inside, I felt like this was my decision and my time to step to my family and make that call. I couldn't be happier that I did it.”

Despite dealing with some issues outside of the game of hockey, Rask was not making excuses for his play on the ice, with the netminder looking to get on a roll after a slow start (4-4-0, .901 save percentage) to his 10th full-time season with Boston.

Bruce Cassidy noted following practice that Rask will likely get the nod in one of Boston’s matchups against the Stars or Coyotes on Friday or Saturday — with Jaroslav Halak set to start Wednesday on the road against the Avalanche.

“It doesn’t matter,” Rask said. “It hasn’t affected my job. I’m not going to make excuses — that I played good games or bad games because of my personal life. Strictly, it was just a time that I felt, deep inside, that I needed to take this and do it for my family’s future. Like I said, I’m happy I did it.”

Taking the time to be with his family was something that Rask reiterated a number of times was the right decision. However, he did add that he didn’t consider officially hanging up his skates and signaling an end to his NHL career.

“I think it was a decision that I needed some clarity in and time away and make things right so I can focus on both,” Rask said. “Resigning and quitting the job was’t in question. I think, in the big scheme of things, if you take two or three days, and get back out there, it’s not going to affect your career that much. But if you just decide to quit, I don’t think that’s the right decision.”

Other Bruins Notes:

With the B’s about to head out for one of their longest road trips of the regular season, the Black and Gold will fly out Tuesday without a few regulars on their blue line.

After suffering an upper-body injury against the Maple Leafs on Saturday, Brandon Carlo will not make the initial trip out to Colorado with the club — with the B’s retaining Jeremy Lauzon and calling up Jakub Zboril to fill in on defense.

Charlie McAvoy and Urho Vaakanainen, who skated with the club Tuesday while donning a red, non-contact jersey, both won’t make the trip out to Colorado, but Cassidy did not rule out a chance for both defensemen to fly out and rejoin the team at some point over the next week or so.

Meanwhile, Kevan Miller (hand) will fly out with the team and is expected to practice, although he likely won’t be able to return to game action until Boston’s game against Detroit on Nov. 21 at the earliest.