For those who might be curious about how ol' Victor is faring up in Minnesota, here is a snippet from Mike Russo's recent article in the Athletic;
" For somebody who should have known he was on the fringe to be in the opening night lineup, it’s extremely disconcerting how bad the start of Rask’s training camp has been.
First of all, Rask, who scored two goals and one assist in 23 games with the Wild after being acquired for Nino Niederreiter last January, showed up and managed to fail Boudreau’s skating test (Rask missed the required times needed to avoid having to skate a fourth, then a fifth time).
That was one awful first impression from a guy on the bubble, and Boudreau made it crystal clear afterward that he was not pleased.
Second, Rask was pretty nondescript in last weekend’s scrimmages. He certainly didn’t add a step to his slow-footed skating as evidenced by the fact he was constantly beaten wide by teammates, including Gerry Mayhew on an overtime winner. Considering the Wild commission skating coach Andy Ness on a part-time basis, it says something that Rask didn’t bother working with him all offseason or return to Minnesota early to work with him last month. Remember, Boudreau and former GM Paul Fenton publicly suggested that working with Ness was something Rask may want to consider.
Third, Rask was minus-3 in his preseason debut at Winnipeg. Now, to be fair, one of those goals against was an empty-netter and two of the goals-against came in the first 1:37 of the game on shots that goalie Kaapo Kahkonen arguably should have stopped.
But still, by all accounts, Rask didn’t have a good game.
Just a really bad start to camp after Fenton, when he was still with the team earlier in the summer, said he wanted to give Rask the ability to resurrect his career rather than buy him out.
At the end of the day, every player is responsible for his own career. Guys have a small window. They either take advantage of it or get passed by.
Rask is getting lapped and in danger of losing his grasp on his own NHL career. He really needs to show something in these final three or four exhibition games that he gets in.
Prediction: Rask makes the team initially. He’s 26 and scored 21 goals four seasons ago, so he could come in handy this season if the Wild run into injuries. But he’ll surely start as the 13th forward because there’s no room for him in the top-12, nor is there room for him on the power play or penalty kill."
