NHL.com’s Dave Stubbs posted an article on Sunday which commemorated Dominik Hasek’s 1991 trade from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Buffalo Sabres, which of course helped Hasek blossom into the dominant NHL goaltender that we all remember.
I held off on posting the article because it was about Buffalo and not really about Dom’s tenures with the Red Wings, but I did find this detail about the eccentric-but-brilliant goaltender to be particularly interesting:
[His history] is all quilted into the tapestry of a brilliant athlete who had no idea that the 30th anniversary of his life-changing trade to Buffalo was at hand until he took a call in his car last week.
“I very much appreciate the reminder but honestly, I live in the present, not in the past,” said Hasek, who has virtually all of his important hockey memorabilia not displayed in his home but in the Czech Hockey Hall of Fame in Prague, on loan to the shrine.
Hasek does speak with enormous respect of two frames that hang on his walls: an autographed painting of the Sabres’ famed “French Connection” line of Gilbert Perreault, Richard Martin and Rene Robert, and a photo of Red Wings legends Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman, sitting together on Detroit’s bench.
“I bought that one of Gordie and Stevie because they’re great guys,” Hasek said. “I had a chance to meet Gordie many times and Stevie was my captain in Detroit.
“I decided to buy this picture because I admire them, as I admire the French Connection, just as I remember all the people in Buffalo who helped me, who were part of my success for nine years — management, teammates, the fans.”
Continued, mostly as a love letter to Buffalo and the Sabres fans, but I don’t think that the Wings win the 2002 Stanley Cup unless Hasek plays so dominantly–or the 2008 Cup, unless an older, wiser Hasek allows the Wings to replace him with Chris Osgood after he struggles in the first round series vs. Nashville.
It’s neat to know that, despite spending the vast majority of his career in places other than Detroit, he values Mr. Howe and Mr. Yzerman so greatly.
