Dominik Hasek is celebrated as the NHL's greatest goaltender, with insights from legends like Wayne Gretzky and Jaromir Jagr. The article reflects on his impact as the Buffalo Sabres' all-time best player during their playoff return in 2011.
Key points
Dominik Hasek is celebrated as the NHL's greatest goaltender.
Wayne Gretzky and Jaromir Jagr share insights on Hasek's impact.
Hasek is recognized as the all-time best player for the Buffalo Sabres.
The article reflects on the Sabres' playoff return in 2011.
With Buffalo in the playoffs for the first time since 2011, we look back at the greatest Sabre of all-time: Dominik Hasek. This feature, 'Dominating' by Larry Wigge, was the cover story for the February 22, 1999 issue of The Sporting News.
He stares down his opponent like a witness to a crime, going up and down the faces, the moves of suspects in a lineup. His green eyes glare with attentiveness, noting every detail.
The pieces of this puzzle Dominik Hasek faces don't resemble Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Rod Brind'Amour or Eric Desjardins of the Flyers, but they are just as important at the moment.
Seconds pass. Then, bang, bang, bang.
Hasek has met his opponent and beaten him — again. His eyes twinkle “Checkmate.”
Friend Joseph Safar, a Buffalo surgeon and Czech Republic native, knows how it feels to attempt to stare down Hasek ... and lose. Safar was thinking to himself about that very subject after he had finished a friendly game of chess with “The Dominator” less than 24 hours after watching Hasek almost single-handedly upset Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs, while holding Lindros and LeClair to one goal apiece in five games.
“I'd like to know his I.Q.,” Safar says in admiration. “He could be a chess grand master if he wanted to.”
But Hasek sees the game of chess as merely a means to an end: The form of concentration that will make him a better goaltender. He doesn't want to be a chess grand master — he wants to be the perfect goaltender.
Because he is so unorthodox, some experts may never consider him the perfect model for a goalie. Hasek's goaltending style, in fact, is really no style at all — just an all-out assault on the puck.
Q&A
Why is Dominik Hasek considered the greatest NHL goaltender?
Dominik Hasek is regarded as the greatest NHL goaltender due to his exceptional skills, unique playing style, and significant contributions to the game, as highlighted by legends like Wayne Gretzky.
What did Wayne Gretzky say about Dominik Hasek?
Wayne Gretzky praised Dominik Hasek for his remarkable talent and ability to perform under pressure, emphasizing his importance in the NHL.
How did Dominik Hasek influence the Buffalo Sabres?
Dominik Hasek significantly influenced the Buffalo Sabres by leading them to multiple playoff appearances and establishing himself as the franchise's greatest player.
What year did the Buffalo Sabres return to the playoffs with Hasek?
The Buffalo Sabres returned to the playoffs in 2011, marking a significant moment in the franchise's history and Hasek's legacy.
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“Damn, he's good,” says Hall of Fame goal-tender Gerry Cheevers. “He reminds me of Wayne Gretzky and his instincts for the game— and how he always seems to know where the puck is and where it is going to be. It's like he controls what is going to happen. I couldn't do that when I played."
“People go to watch Dominik Hasek because he is an entertainer; he lifts them out of their seats. He uses his glove, his blocker, his stick, his legs, his chest like other goalies. But he he's so different, because he also uses his back and stomach when he scrambles around like a snow angel on the ice. Hell, I'll swear I've also seen him use his head — on purpose — to stop a shot.”
Sean Burke sits in the Flyers' locker room after losing to Hasek last spring. He doesn't have time for chess. He's about to become a free agent — and he feels he let down his team because all of the games were close, three of them decided by one goal. Watching Hasek, the acrobat, beat his team, Burke says, “If I tried to make the kind of saves he does, I'd break every bone in my body and be in a body cast for at least six months. He's simply amazing.”
How do you top being the first goalie to be named Most Valuable Player in the NHL since Montreal's Jacques Plante in 1962? Well, you simply win it a second straight time, as Hasek did last season. No goalie had ever done that — and he has a great chance for a three-peat this season. (Editor's note: Hasek finished third behind Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Yashin.)
“This guy is God,” Lightning G.M./coach Jacques Demers says. “He's on a different planet.”
There's a pause in Demers' voice when he's asked if Hasek is the best goalie of all-time. “If I had to pick one, I have to go with Patrick Roy because I won a Stanley Cup with Patrick in Montreal,” he says. “Patrick Roy has won three Cups, and that's what counts. But as soon as Dominik Hasek wins a Cup — and he will in the next few years — he will be right there with Roy.”
Stanley Cup or not, the Rangers' Gretzky says Hasek is clearly the first player he'd take if he were starting a team, not Roy. Best goalie? Gretzky goes one step further. “He's simply a phenom,” Gretzky says. “There's not a better player in the game right now.”
Hasek's competitiveness is legendary. He was a midfielder in soccer and a junior tennis champion in Eastern Bohemia. He plays soccer, tennis and squash in the summer. “Whatever I do,” he says, “I do it 100 percent, not 99.9 percent.”
But despite being a hero in the Czech Republic long before he led his country to Olympic gold last winter at Nagano, Hasek had to prove his unusual style would work in the NHL. In fact he became frustrated that the North American game didn't revolve around him the way it did back home.
I have a problem with a guy who plays like Hasek; he's too dominant... It's like having Sandy Koufax pitch in every game against you.
- Senators G.M. Rick Dudley
Despite being 25 when he came to the NHL and 28 before he beat out Grant Fuhr as the No. 1 goalie in Buffalo, Hasek never considered going back to the Czech Republic.
“Pelle Lindbergh proved to the NHL that a European goalie could win in the NHL with the Flyers before his tragic automobile accident” says Hasek, 34. “I knew I could win, too. But Chicago had Ed Belfour and never gave me a chance. In fact, I played more games in the minors my first two years here. I couldn't understand it. I had always been taught you either know how to stop the puck or your don't — and I was surprised that I had to prove myself all over again to everyone.... It was almost like I was an alien — someone with four eyes or something.”
More than one opponent has accused Hasek of having eyes in the back of his head the past few seasons. Roy and Martin Brodeur shine at teasing opponents, opening their pads a little to entice shooters to go for the 5-hole before closing that opening quickly. At times, Hasek shows more to shoot at, but he is so quick he can twist and turn his 5-11, 165-pound double-jointed wisp of a body, like a Slinky, to stop the puck.
Senators G.M. Rick Dudley says Hasek is one of the problems the NHL talks about when it tries to increase goal-scoring. “I have a problem with a guy who plays like Hasek; he's too dominant,” says Dudley, who suggests the 4x6 goal should be four feet wider and two feet higher to increase scoring. “With a guy like Hasek, it's like having Sandy Koufax pitch in every game against you. I don't know where else we could go or what else we could do, except look at the size of the net.”
In Buffalo, the Sabres simply smile and go along for the ride. “He makes so many momentum-turning saves that we can cheat a little and turn the play up the ice quickly and catch opponents fiat-footed,” captain Mike Peca says. “I don't know how many times he has made a great save and we've come right back up the ice and scored... If anyone says Dominik gets too much credit they aren't watching the same game I am. We feed off his brilliance.”
The Sabres average 2.90 goals per game, but most of them come in gambling situations. And that's what makes Hasek's dramatics even more impressive.
The Sabres are outshot regularly — and yet Hasek still completes the victory in a gallop, Secretariat against Northern Dancer.
“We watch him stop us on practically every shot in practice, so when we hear people say he is God, those people aren't kidding,” teammate Matthew Barnaby says. “He's earned our respect by simply being the best goalie on this planet.”
Earlier this season in St. Louis, the Blues out-shot the Sabres, 43-16. Final score: 2-2.
“It's frightening how good he is some nights,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff says. “I've run out of adjectives. I guess the best way to put it is grand larceny. He has pretty well redefined how goaltending is being played. He's done some things nobody's seen before — dropping his stick and using his other hand, making saves with his head, rolling over and laying his arms on the ice, rolling over and kicking his legs up. And I've seen the same thing in practice, so it's no fluke.”
Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr has scored 11 goals in 21 games against Hasek — only Sabres teammate Geoff Sanderson has more with 14 goals. “I usually score on backhand shots on him,” Jagr says with a wide smile. “Why? Because he doesn't know where it's going... and neither do I.”
Total uncertainty. Maybe that's the only way to beat The Dominator.
The post-Olympic whirlwind was frantic. Hasek, who saw a stamp minted with his likeness on it, wasn't fully aware of the feelings he stirred among his countrymen when he carried the Czech Republic to the gold medal last February — not until last summer, when he was on vacation in his homeland.
“I couldn't go anywhere. I'd go to a restaurant, go out to buy some groceries, and people were coming up to me and asking for autographs,” he says. “People were coming to my house, and I always said, 'No, I don't give autographs at my house. Sorry.' But one day a 60-year-old man came to my house. I told him I don't give autographs, and he started to cry. I felt so bad. He said, 'I don't feel bad because you won't give me an autograph; I feel happy because of what you did at the Olympics.'"
The highlight was his 20-save shutout over Russia in the gold-medal game, but Hasek admits his supreme moments came during a shootout against Canada in the semifinals, when he stopped, in order, Theo Fleuiy, Ray Bourque, Joe Nieuwendyk, Eric Lindros and Brendan Shanahan.
On that night, he clearly beat Canadian goalie Roy, as he has on others. “I grew up thinking about winning a gold medal in the Olympics, just like North American kids dream of winning the Stanley Cup,” Hasek says, before adding a new appetite he must quench. “I have the gold medal. Now, I want the Stanley Cup even more.”
Hasek's English is halting — sometimes more baffling than his goaltending style. But his intelligence is unappreciated. He possesses the equivalent of a master's degree in history, is an accredited high school teacher in the Czech Republic and a voracious reader of books on history and art.
As a chess player, he is said to think 10 to 12 moves in advance. And don't think for a minute he doesn't use these smarts when he is asked to face vulcanized pucks coming at him at up to 100 mph.
“You can't outthink yourself — and you definitely can't outthink the shooters if you want to win,” Hasek says with a sly grin. “But when you are on your game, I think you can see 90 percent of the shots and feel another 5 percent of them coming at you. And when you're hot, the game slows down in front of you. You feel like you are in control of the game.”
Just like Hasek does when he's sitting in front of a chessboard, he can psych out even the best players in the game.
Jagr was also on that podium in Nagano celebrating a Czech gold medal. He has watched his countryman turn back the best in the world for years; yet, he is disbelieving when told The Dominator says he can see 90 percent of the shots he faces. “If that's true,” Jagr says, “then he has to have eyes in the back of his head the way he scrambles around the goal crease so much.”
Canadian sports psychologist Dr. Cal Botterill says Hasek has the ability to get into shooters' heads: “Scoring in hockey is hard to do against a normal human goalie,” Botterill says. “But when you get a guy like that it can clearly become a psychological issue.”
“He's got an advantage on a lot of shooters because of the reputation he's built up as The Dominator,” Maple Leafs center Mats Sundin says. “I know I feel that way. When I come in alone on him, I think I have to try something special to score a goal. And that definitely gives him a psychological edge.”
“You try to make a perfect shot,” Mighty Ducks left winger Paul Kariya says. “It's like trying to find a hole in a wall — and shooting a puck through it.”
Outwardly, at least, Hasek shows no cracks. He recently spent nearly a week in Florida during an extended All-Star break. One day he had his 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter at Busch Gardens. His son was scared by the roar of an elephant and the hiss of a giant snake and clutched his father's legs, proving to shooters there was plenty of room to fit a puck through his 5-hole.
“This guy is God. He's on a different planet.”
- Lightning G.M./coach Jacques Demers
But now it's back to business — and there is little time for fun.
The Sabres and Hasek were this close to making to the Stanley Cup finals. And he feels the pressure to carry his team there this year. “There is pressure on every goaltender at this time of the year,” Hasek says. “One mistake can make a difference on a shift ... in a period ... in a game ... and in a series. I know this.”
Hasek has owned the month of December the past two years. He tied an NHL record with six shutouts in the month en route to a career-high 13 shutouts last season. This year, he posted four of the eight shutouts he has. Now, he wants to own April, May and June.
“He's even better than I thought he was,” says Ruff, the former assistant coach in Florida. “I used to think he was just lucky. Now, I know now that 99 percent of what he does is premeditated.”
In beating Hasek to get to the Stanley Cup finals last spring, the Capitals claim they found a weakness in Hasek's left (catching) hand. But others have tried that without success, and they've also tried the 5-hole, only to see him cleverly kill rebounds with his pads.
“You have to challenge the shooters,” Hasek says, mapping out a sort of game he plays with certain shooters. “If you give them something to shoot at you can, how do you say, set them up for failure?”
Concentration of a chess grand master, intelligence of a master's equivalent in history; yet, teammates joke with the good-natured Hasek when his active mind gets the best of him.
"I don't know how many times I've left my wallet at home and can't find it," he says with a big grin. "And my teammates tease me about how often I forget my visa on trips across the border or have wound up on the side of the road after I've run out of gas. Stupid things like that.”
But he never runs out of gas in goal. And whether or not he wins a Stanley Cup, he will still get most of the votes as the best goaltender of all-time.
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