One player from each NHL team who should be on the NHL 18 cover

Boston Bruins: Tuukka Rask

Normally, Patrice Bergeron would be a shoo-in for this. But considering he was already on the NHL 15 cover, which was voted on by fans no less, he’s disqualified. The three best candidates after him are Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, and Tuukka Rask. But Marchand is a serial pest, and picking Chara would be wrong after he almost killed Max Pacioretty. That leaves us with Rask, who has become one of the most dependable goalies in the NHL.

Leafs fans know that all too well. In the 2006 World Juniors, the two best goalies were Justin Pogge and Tuukka Rask, and the one thing they had in common was that they were both in the Leafs’ system. But in one of the worst trades of the last decade, the Leafs traded Rask on draft day to Boston for Andrew Raycroft, while Pogge only played seven games at the NHL level. Rask’s first career NHL win, meanwhile, came against… you guessed it, the Maple Leafs.

While he technically has a Stanley Cup to his name, he rode bench to Tim Thomas that year. But in 2012-13, he took over the starting job full-time while Thomas was traded to the New York Islanders. He brought the Bruins to within two wins of the Stanley Cup that year, then won the Vezina the very next season.

While the Bruins have yet to make the playoffs since his Vezina-winning season, Rask is a consistent force, as his save percentage has never dipped below .915. And this season, he’s in killer form having started 8-1 with a .938 save percentage. The Bruins committed a lot to Rask when they signed him to an eight-year extension worth $56 million back in 2013. But so far, that deal looks like a bargain.