Sabres retire Dominik Hasek’s jersey number with cool patch (Photo)

The Buffalo Sabres will wear a special patch in honor of Dominik Hasek, whose jersey number 39 will be retired during Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.

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There has been little to get excited about during what has been a long season for the Buffalo Sabres, yet Tuesday night will provide some joy — along with a lot of memories — for the win-starved fans.

Dominik Hasek’s number 39 will be retired as the Sabres welcome the Detroit Red Wings, both of whom “The Dominator” worked between the pipes in a Hall of Fame career that ran from 1990 to 2008.

In honor of Hasek, the Sabres will wear a patch to honor the goalie who is regarded as one of the five best netminders in the history of the NHL:

At 14-26-3 while sitting in the Atlantic Division’s eighth spot, Tuesday’s game will be a long way from the days where Hasek broke the will of many a shooter, while at times seemingly carrying the Sabres on his back.

Hasek began his career with the Chicago Blackhawks, appearing in five games during the 1990-91 season before being traded for winger Vyacheslav Kozlov in 1991. He began to hit his stride at age 29, when he earned the first of 10 All-Star trips along with winning his first Jennings and Vezina Trophies during the 1993-94 season.

He and Devils goalie Martin Brodeur spent the rest of the decade as the league’s most imposing goal stoppers, as Hasek won consecutive Hart Trophies as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player in 1996-97 and 1997-98. His golden moment came in 1999 when he willed the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Finals before falling to the Dallas Stars in a competitive six-game series.

The Dominator left Buffalo after the 2000-01 season and joined the Red Wings, where he won all 16 games of the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup title run. He retired after that season before returning to the NHL with the Ottawa Senators in 2005-06, winning 28 of his 43 starts.

Hasek ended his career with the Red Wings, winning 65 games during his two-year return with Detroit. At age 43, Hasek served as the backup to Chris Osgood, but still started four games during the Red Wings’ Cup-winning sprint.

Having also started for the Czech Republic during three Olympics (1998, 2002, 2006), Hasek closed out his professional career as the goalie for Spartak Moscow during the 2010-11 season, where the then-46-year-old had a 23-19-3 record with a 2.48 goals against average.

Hasek is the all-time leader with a .922 save percentage and is sixth with 81 career shutouts. He is also 12th all-time with 389 career wins the NHL.

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