Is this going to be a farewell tour for Tuukka Rask in 2022?

The last six-plus months haven’t been all that easy for Tuukka Rask.

Even though the 34-year-old netminder’s desire to get back on the ice remained a central focus in the aftermath of major hip surgery this past summer, the road to get back on an NHL roster required large stretches of inactivity, off-ice work and a slow progression of tedious rehab.

“Being patient, I think,” Rask said of the biggest challenge during his recovery process. “There's no pain. That's what was told to me before the surgery, that the rehab is fairly easy and pain-free. It's just the patience. 

“Like the first month or two months, you can't really do anything more than lay on the table and let your trainer mobilize the hip and make sure that it doesn't stiffen up too much. So I think that was probably the biggest thing for me. I'm not the most patient guy when it comes to just waiting around and not doing things.”

But after toiling away for more than half a year in PT sessions and monotonous on-ice work, is there a chance that Rask’s extensive rehab efforts is all for just a four-month farewell tour with the only NHL club he’s ever played for?

Rask has never been one to hold back from declaring some candid thoughts — but when it comes to his future beyond this season, it sure seems like he’s keeping his cards close to the vest.

“We'll see. Like I said, I haven't made any plans for the future,” Rask said. “And I haven't played a hockey game in a long time. So I want to come back, I want to come back solid and start building on my game and kind of get that rhythm back that I'm used to having. So that's where my head's at right now. I haven't made any long-term plans yet. But we'll see what happens.”

The Bruins might be staying in the moment when it comes to this season and maximizing what could be the last kick at the can for this current core — but both Rask and Don Sweeney’s ambiguous responses over the past day in regards to the netminder’s future does raise more questions over whether or not this roster could be in line for some seismic changes this coming offseason. 

Of course, the true determinant on whether or not this window is completely closed will hinge on Patrice Bergeron’s status in the coming years — with the B’s captain following a similar script as Rask in terms of not divulging what his plans are upon hitting free agency later this summer.

“I told Bergy a couple weeks ago that he should do what I did and wait until half the season and sign next year,” Rask joked. “Take some time off. He’s played a lot of hockey.” 

And while it can be perilous to try and read the tea leaves in regards to what Rask and Bergeron will do moving forward, it’s evident that both franchise pillars are more than cognizant that they’re reaching their final campaigns in black-and-gold sweaters.

“Not a whole lot. We’ve touched on that from time to time,” Rask said of discussions with Bergeron about what’s next. “We’re realistic that we’re getting older and the window is closing, whether that’s a year, two, three years, who knows. But it’s closing, and we know that. But we haven’t talked about specific dates or nothing.”

Of course, there’s still a lot that needs to be sorted out before we begin delving deep into both Rask and Bergeron’s futures in the NHL — even though the writing seems to be on the wall that this franchise is running out of time when it comes to orchestrating another deep Cup run.

But Rask wouldn’t have trudged through these last six months if he didn’t think the club in place had the means to put together another promising playoff push — one that he’s now happy to be a part of.

“I think the biggest motivation is just to play with the group I played with my whole career and have another chance to win. That’s about it,” Rask said, adding: "The core group is still there. I think the past few games, the team’s showed that they can play some real solid hockey against some good teams. 

It’s a long season, so there’s still plenty of games left. I think as long as we keep building in the right direction, like we always say, it’s all about making the playoffs and then anything can happen. Looking forward to that.”

OTHER NOTES

Rask slated to play on Thursday against Philly

As of right now, the plan for Boston is to give Rask the green light for his season debut on Thursday night against the Flyers. In his career against the Flyers, Rask has posted a record of 19-2-4 with a .927 save percentage.

“Our intention is to start Tuukka [on Thursday], all things being equal,” Bruce Cassidy said. “He'll have to be OK with it. I believe he is."

 Good news on Foligno

Cassidy offered some good news on the status of Nick Foligno, who appeared to suffer an ugly lower-body injury during Saturday’s road win over the Lightning. Even though the veteran forward is slated to miss a few more games, he could be back in the fold next week.

"He went for a little skate this morning. So he's feeling a little bit better. ...  I don't anticipate we'll see him this week,” Cassidy said of Foligno. “But next week, certainly a possibility. So be a few games but good news on that front, because watching on video, it's certainly didn't look good. So I thought it could have been more long-term. Not great to lose a player for any length of time. But like I said, when we saw that one, I thought it could be more long-term.” 

As for Trent Frederic, who exited Monday’s win over the Capitals due to an upper-body injury, Cassidy noted that the physical forward will miss at least the next two games with his current ailment.

 Marchand no worse for wear

Just a few days after getting his nose nearly shorn off via a painful high stick from Washington’s Nic Dowd, Brad Marchand was all smiles when speaking with the media on Wednesday.

Yes, Dowd’s stick shattered his nose and Marchand needed five or six stitches to close the wound. But at least his pearly whites weren’t affected.

“I’m just happy it wasn’t my teeth,” Marchand joked. “I can deal with a broken nose. Missing these beautiful teeth of mine would have hurt. ... (Dowd) got me pretty good. There’s no question. I don’t think it was intentional by any means. He was just flailing around, trying to lift my stick. He wasn’t very close, but it happens sometimes.”