In addition to Rask, netminders Zane McIntyre and Malcolm Subban also practiced with the team.
"We're going to send one of the goalies back down. So [Tuukka's] coming on the trip and as long as he's feeling good, we'll go day by day," said Julien. "But if he's good enough to practice, he's good enough at least to back up right now."
Julien did not specify which goaltender would be sent down to Providence. Saturday's pregame skate at Joe Louis Arena will provide an indication, and the team will announce the transaction once it's official.
As for Rask, the question is whether one practice is enough, before returning to game action.
"He practiced well today," Julien said Friday. "And if he's good [on Saturday], there's no issues there. He looked good to me today, so we'll make that decision, but I think we've gone this far; we're going to make sure we make the right decision, not the reckless one."
"That's the thing we're kind of talking about, that we talked about last week - risk, reward - what it is and how we should proceed," said Rask. "And it feels good enough now that I can comfortably practice."
Rask was on the ice early before practice to test out his injury, which was labeled as "general soreness," and then stayed on the ice for the full group session.
"I think I'm a little bit more cautious now with it, because I injured myself about four years ago and missed two to three months because of an injury," said Rask. "You obviously want to play, but you don't want to force it and then be out for two months, so that's really the toughest thing for us to decide, but it feels good."
In the three games Rask has started this season, he's 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average. He has stayed ready by juggling tennis balls to keep his hand-eye coordination sharp. Whenever he returns, he'll try to pick up where he left off, and hopefully not bounce in and out of the lineup.
"It's not good for anybody, that I play a game, and then I'm out for a day, play a game, out for a day," said Rask. "You need to have quality practice time and then still feel healthy, so I think that's behind us and we could just focus on doing the things that we have to do."