With Tim Thomas out for the season, Tuukka Rask  now he gets to step in as the No. 1 netminder on a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

According to NESN is sounds as if he’s close to getting a long term deal with the club as well. The Finnish phenom is a restricted free agent this summer, but he’s clearly the Boston Bruins goalie of the present and future. To that end, the two sides just began contract negotiations and both seem optimistic a deal will get done soon. That would lock Rask in as the No. 1 for the foreseeable future, with Anton Khudobin presumably the No. 2 in 2012-13 and newly drafted Malcolm Subban potentially stepping in at some point down the line.


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