"25 beers deep": Tuukka Rask learned Leafs traded him in the middle of a three-day bender

Toronto Maple Leafs fans may never forget that they traded Tuukka Rask to the Boston Bruins, but the Finnish netminder himself doesn’t have much memory of it at all.

Rask was selected 21st overall in the 2005 draft by the Leafs, but was traded to the Bruins just a year later in exchange for Andrew Raycroft. The trade is remembered to this day given how horribly it worked out for the Leafs, though Rask himself hadn’t commented much on it publicly. That changed earlier this week, however, as he gave a hilarious story on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast in regards to the state he was in when first learning of the trade.

“It was a midsummer party in Finland,” Rask explained. “I was 18 or 19. We’re on a three-day bender, it’s not getting dark. At like midnight, 2 am, I get a phone call from my agent and he’s like, ‘Hey, you’ve been traded to the Bruins,’ and I’m like, ‘Uhh, okay, great.’ I didn’t give a sh*t — 25 beers deep at the time, we’ll deal with it on Monday.”

At the time of the deal, the Leafs acquired goaltender Raycroft, who had just won the Calder Trophy two seasons prior. Management had hoped to get him back on track after a rough 2005-06 campaign but were never able to do so. They also believed that Justin Pogge was on his way to becoming a star talent, which never came to fruition.

While Raycroft and Pogge never worked out, Rask certainly did. The 36-year-old was forced to retire two seasons ago due to hip issues but was able to put together an outstanding career. His career .921 save percentage is third in NHL history, while his 564 games are first all-time amongst Bruins goaltenders. If you’re a Leafs fan, you can’t help but wonder what could have been.

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