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Dominik Hasek finally decided tolisten to Detroit fans - and his own heart.
After the Red Wings
won the Stanley Cup in 2002, fans at the victory parade begged Hasek for "one
more year." But Hasek and his wife ultimately decided it was time for him
to retire and return to the Czech Republic with their children.
At his farewell news conference, Hasek said, "After 21 years of playing
professional hockey at the highest level, I do not feel I have enough fire in
me to compete at the level I expect of myself. I achieved my goal and I hope
to spend more time with my family and move on to new challenges."
What a difference a year makes.
Hasek said he didn't really think about the NHL until he started watching last season's playoffs. That's when he called his agent, Rich Winter, who talked to the Red Wings in late May, long after they were swept out of the first round.
In a conference call on July 8, Hasek explained why he's giving the NHL one more shot. Ticketmaster
"The motivation factor is to get back in the game and compete again," he said. "When I retired, I felt like I'm not hungry. In the playoffs, I felt like my fire is back."
Always unpredictable with his "slinky for a spine" saves on the ice, Hasek proved to teammates he was just as unpredictable off it.
"When he retired, I thought he was done," defenseman Nick Lidstrom admitted. "We saw him a couple of times during the season last year, too, and it didn't seem like he wanted to come back. So I was somewhat surprised when he said he wanted to come back." Ticketmaster
The six-time Vezina Trophy winner didn't want to return to just any team, he wanted to rejoin the Red Wings, who signed goaltender Curtis Joseph to a three-year deal after Hasek retired.
"I know this place because I played here for one year and I won the Cup here," Hasek said. "So the Red Wings were by far my first choice, and when the Red Wings told me they want me back, I was very happy."
Joseph agreed to waive the no-trade clause in his contract, as long as he had a say in where he went. But talks stalled when he underwent surgery on his ankle.
Joseph missed training camp and only recently started practicing. Although the Red Wings left him unprotected in last week's waiver draft, he went unclaimed - he has two years and $16 million left on his contract. Ticketmaster
Detroit will start the regular season with Hasek, Joseph and Manny Legace on the roster until general manager Ken Holland can swing a deal.
The day Joseph returned to Detroit, Hasek didn't get a chance to speak with him before playing Ottawa in a preseason game. He looked a little rusty as he let in two goals between the pads, later admitting all the hoopla surrounding Joseph's return affected him.
"People will compare the two of us, so it's something I have to deal with," he explained. "It shouldn't affect my game, but of course, you can feel it."
As the preseason wound donw, Hasek still was trying to return to the form he had during his final playoff run, when he was 16-7 with six shutouts and a 1.86 goals-against average.
The 38-year-old goalie stayed active last year, playing soccer, squash and tennis. He also played hockey but never got in the net. Ticketmaster
"He's working at it," Detroit coach Dave Lewis said. "This doesn't happen in a couple of weeks. It's a continual process of re-evaluation, practice, shots, situations just to get himself feeling better in the net."
Hasek's work ethic is legendary. He hates giving up goals, even in practice, and asks teammates to pepper him with shots to get him ready.
"I think he's getting close to where he was at when he first came here," Lidstrom said. "He's really working hard out there and he's been doing that every day. He wants more shots, breakaways or 2-on-nones. He just wants to get a lot of shots at him, and we try to do that. So I think he's improving every day."
When he first came to Detroit, Hasek had to adjust to facing more shots during practice than during games.
With the Red Wings' loss of Sergei Fedorov and a renewed emphasis on defense this season, Hasek will have to get used to that all over again. Ticketmaster
In Detroit's penultimate preseason game on Saturday, "The Dominator" probably wanted to switch places with Toronto's Ed Belfour, who stopped 40 of 41 shots. Hasek also allowed just one goal but saw only 24 pucks.
"He didn't have a lot of work. He likes work and we'd like to see him with work, but you also want to do the things that don't give him work," Lewis said, acknowledging the Catch-22.
Hasek looked on the bright side.
"I think it was a good game for me before the season opens," he said. "It's very important to have a good game, a couple good saves, because it helps my confidence, for sure."
The Red Wings are confident Hasek again will be "The Dominator." So is one major hockey publication, which already projects him at Comeback Player of the Year.
"Obviously, everybody feels for Cujo and his situation, but Dominik Hasek's a special guy," Detroit right wing Darren McCarty said. "The organization chose to go with him. Both of those guys are very popular in this dressing room, and they will be until something's done. But with Dom, we're definitely excited."