NHL legend Hasek takes aim at Russia

Hall of Famer says Russian NHLers should be suspended and is working to keep them out of the NHL games to be played in Prague next month. Says if Ukraine is defeated, 'the Russian army will not stop'

Dominik Hasek is working very hard to keep Russian NHL players out of his country when the NHL opens its season in Prague next month.

Over the course of his 15-season NHL career, Dominik Hasek became the greatest goalie in NHL history by also being one of the most unorthodox goalies in NHL history. (And yes, you read that correctly. Hasek was indeed the best goalie the best league in the world has ever seen.)

More than a decade after his Hall of Fame career, Hasek has not stopped taking the road less travelled. He’s one of the very few athletes, past or present, who has the courage to speak out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Russian NHLers should be suspended and Czech players should be barred from playing in the KHL, the league in which he played in the final season of his career. He also thinks that the government in Czechia should bar any Russians playing for the Nashville Predators (winger Yakov Trenin) and San Jose Sharks (wingers Alexander Barbanov and Evgeni Svechnikov) from playing in Prague when the two teams kick off the NHL’s regular season there Oct. 7 and 8.