Dominik Hasek: The most dominant one

Dominik Hasek is not only the most dominant and entertaining goaltender of all-time, but the greatest one as well. 

Goaltenders haven’t always been stars. In fact, most of them have been inconsistent and unforgettable. This makes the elite ones stand out and makes them even more special. Rarely do fans go to an NHL game to watch a goalie simply refuse to allow the other team to score. Goals are exciting. However, Dominik Hasek forever changed the way goalies are viewed.

Dominik “The Dominator” Hasek made it cool to be a goalie. This is something even Patrick Roy couldn’t accomplish. With his highlight-reel saves and his almost inhuman flexibility, no goalie has been more entertaining and fun to watch than Hasek.

“Pardon the cliche, but Hasek never actually stood on his head,” wrote Michael Farber, via Hockey’s Greatest. “The Gumby-like goalie, however, did snow angel, barrel roll, intentionally drop his stick and head butt pucks. There has never been a more unconventional goaltender or, if all were measured at the top of their games, a better one.”

Hasek is the only goaltender to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP multiple times and is one of the seven goalies to ever win it. Of those six other goalies to win it, two of them (Jose Theodore and Carey Price) have won since The Dominator’s back-to-back wins in 1996-97 and 1997-98. Very few players have ever won back-to-back Hart Trophies. Those who have are cemented as all-time greats. Goalies had long been undervalued in the Hart Trophy race. Hasek helped remind people how valuable an elite goaltender is.

His Influence

Hasek’s influence on the NHL is often overlooked. This is understandable, as people naturally remember him for his incredible saves and his entertaining, yet effective, playing style. But don’t overlook how much Hasek influenced his position.

His biggest influence came overseas. Before Hasek, for many years, Canada and the United States had allowed their best athletes on the ice to be skaters. However, because of the pure dominance of the USSR, Canada, and America, European countries came up with a crazy idea. Why not put their greatest athletes in goal?

While this method worked in international competitions for years before Hasek, Hasek was the first European goalie to come over to the NHL and have success. Since his dominance began in 1994, the number of non-North American goalies in the league has grown. It’s hard to imagine Hasek didn’t play a huge part in this.

He was also influential because of his playing style. Hasek did things his way, and his way was anything but conventional. He wandered from his crease without any fear. Hasek used every part of his body possible to stop pucks. While most goalies like to use their glove (or trapper) to cover the puck, Hasek would often use his blocker. He took everything people knew about goaltenders and rewrote the book.

Hasek led the Czech Republic to its first (and only) gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics. This has led to the country getting a lot more attention. Radim Vrbata, Tomas Plekanec, Jakub Voracek, Tomas Hertl, Michal Neuvirth and David Pastrnak each owe a debt of gratitude to their countryman.

The victory also paved the way for America and Canada to start putting their more athletic hockey players in net. Hasek influenced the look of the modern-day goalie. Sure, the ideal netminder is much larger than The Dominator (who was listed at 6-foot-2 and 166 pounds). But in today’s NHL, the optimal goalie has a similar playing style to Hasek. Roy deserves a lot of credit for making the padding less heavy, but Hasek showed everyone how to take advantage of the lighter padding.

His Dominance

It’s impossible to talk about Hasek without raving about how dominant he was. He might not have Roy’s three Conn Smythe Trophies, but it wasn’t because he wasn’t deserving. While Roy got to spend his career with the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche, Hasek spent his best years single-handedly making the Buffalo Sabres Stanley Cup contenders.

Roy never won a Hart Trophy and only finished in the top-three once. Not only did Hasek win two Vezina Trophies, he also finished in the top three on three other occasions. While Roy led the league in save percentage four times, The Dominator did it six straight times from 1993-94 to 1998-99.

Of course, not all saves are equal. Some are much tougher than others. Goals allowed adjusted helps to solve this issue. It’s measured much like OPS+ and wRC+ are in baseball, the lower the number is, the better you were. 100 represents league average. Hasek not only led the NHL in it seven consecutive times, he’s the all-time leader at 79. Meanwhile, Roy led the league four times and is second all-time at 85. Roy was an excellent goalie and is right behind Hasek. But if you look at who was the best at their job (stopping shots), The Dominator is better than him.

On a nightly basis, Dominik Hasek gave the Sabres a chance to win. He did so despite facing immense odds and pressure. During his tenure with Buffalo, Hasek only played with three Hall of Famers. One of them was Grant Fuhr, the man he replaced. He also played with the great Dale Hawerchuck for 104 games from 1993-1995. Pat LaFontaine, a very underrated scorer, only had one healthy season with The Dominator. Hasek got to play with the legendary Doug Gilmour, but only during the end of Gilmour’s career.

Not only was The Dominator dominant, like all great goalies, he was weird. Whether it was skating around outside the crease like a defenseman, making fans go nuts with outlandish saves, or simply asserting himself, Hasek was an entertainer. You never knew what impossible or hilarious thing he would do next.

Ironically, it wasn’t until he started declining that he won a Stanley Cup. Hasek won two with the Detroit Red Wings. At the age of 37, he won his first Stanley Cup, starting all 23 playoff games as the Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes in 2002. His second one came in 2007-08. Hasek only started four playoff games but split time with Chris Osgood during the regular season. Mike Babcock rode Osgood, his hot hand, throughout most of the playoffs.

His Legacy

For many NHL fans, Dominik Hasek was the source of a lot of joy as long as he wasn’t playing against your team. His legacy is slightly tarnished because sadly, his best years weren’t spent winning Stanley Cups like Roy. Critics say his two Cup wins were more due to the Red Wings comical depth than anything else. While this might be true, Roy had some very impressive teams in front of him as well.

Next: 30 best NHL goaltenders of all time

If you measure each goaltender by their best years, Hasek has no peers. His six-year run of dominance is comparable to MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. No goaltender has ever had as great of a six-year period as Hasek. It’s quite likely no goalie ever will.