Bruins to offer Rask contract extension during season

Boston GM Peter Chiarelli has confirmed he will begin contract extension talks with goalie Tuukka Rask during the regular season.

“Breaching my own policy [of not discussing contracts], we will bring up talks with Tuukka at some point in this season, in hoping to extend him,” Chiarelli told CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty. “I know the perception looks like one follows the other and I was waiting to pull the trigger based on a great game by Tuukka.

“We’ve been pretty open with Tuukka and Tim as far as when we would see them ending up, I call it a succession plan.”

The perception Chiarelli alludes to is that, in the last 48 hours, the Bruins watched Rask perform beautifully in a victory over Montreal, then traded Tim Thomas — well, Tim Thomas’ contract — to the New York Islanders.

As for the succession plan, it’s this: Rask signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract last June as a sort “prove it” deal, one where he would assume the starting role and assure Boston brass he could replace Thomas as the bonafide No. 1.

Thus far, he’s done exactly that.

Rask ranks near the top of most statistical categories with his 6-1-1 record, 1.96 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.

The question now, of course, is what kind of money he’ll get with his extension.

Here’s more, from Haggerty:

The guess is that Rask’s final contract extension will reside somewhere in a range between the recent deals procured for Ondrej Pavelec (5 years and $19.5 million) and Carey Price (6 years and $39.5 million) with his ultimate performance over the course of this season filling out the numbers.

It’s a wide range to be sure, but Rask is expected to come up in the middle ($5 million per season) of those deals if he can maintain his high level of play as a No. 1 goaltender for Boston this season.

Rask, 25, could gun for an extension similar to the one Carolina’s Cam Ward signed when he was 25 — a six-year, $37.8 million deal after making $3.5 million as a RFA.

But it would be a tough sell, especially since Ward backstopped the ‘Canes to a Stanley Cup and had a Conn Smythe trophy on his resume.