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Dominik Hašek (born January 29, 1965 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)), also known by his nickname The Dominator, is a professional ice hockey goaltender. He has played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators. His highly unorthodox style created doubts about his potential, but his acrobatic play and extraordinary reflexes eventually led Wayne Gretzky himself to pronounce him the greatest living player. No other goaltender from Europe has rivaled his success in the NHL.

Playing career
Hašek was drafted by the Chicago Black Hawks in 1983 as their 10th round choice, but didn't debut with them until the 1990-91 season. Hašek spent time as the backup to Ed Belfour, and only played 25 games over two seasons with the Blackhawks. During the summer of 1993, Hašek was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, where he blossomed into one of the NHL's top goaltenders. During his career, Hašek has won the Vezina Trophy for most outstanding goalie six times (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2001), and has won the Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's most valuable player and Lester B. Pearson Award for the most valuable player in the NHL as selected by the NHLPA twice each (both in 1997 and 1998). He led the NHL in save percentage six times, and has been named to the first team at the all star game five times.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics, Hašek led the Czech team to the gold medal, including a shutout of the Russian Federation team during the gold medal game. In 2001 Hašek, having won almost everything but a Stanley Cup, moved to the Detroit Red Wings, the odds-on favourites to win. Hašek's dreams were fulfilled and Detroit won both the Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup.

That summer Hašek retired, but after sitting out a year he returned to Detroit. In the meantime, Detroit had signed Curtis Joseph and thus found itself with two expensive goaltenders, and no other team was willing to accept Joseph's large salary, leading to tension among the Red Wings. The 2003-04 season was problematic for Hašek, as he suffered a number of groin injuries. On January 9, 2004, he and the team agreed he should rest his injured groin for two to four weeks. At that time, he told general manager Ken Holland that he would not accept any pay while he was out injured. However, he did not make his refusal of pay public at that time. On February 10, he announced that he was not going to continue to play this season, a decision that surprised Red Wings management. Then, on March 12, after Holland discussed Hašek's refusal of pay with reporters, Hašek made the issue public. He eventually refused $3 million (US) of his $6 million salary.

Hašek, despite being one of the greatest goaltenders of his generation, is also known as a problem player. In the middle of the 1996 playoffs he announced he would not play another game with the Buffalo Sabres if coach Ted Nolan was not fired. Hašek carried out his threat and sat in the stands and saw the Sabres lose in the next round. Nolan did not return the next year, upsetting many other Buffalo players that liked him. After the 2001 playoffs he demanded a trade or else he threatened to retire. He got his wish and was moved to the Red Wings.

In April 2004, he underwent groin surgery in Prague, and returned to his hometown of Pardubice to recuperate. On June 17, he told a Czech sports daily that he would not play for the Red Wings in the 2004-05 season (which, as it turned out, was cancelled after the league locked out the players). In the interview, Hašek said that he wanted to be on a club that could contend for the Stanley Cup, and specifically named the Ottawa Senators as a possible destination. The Senators later signed Hašek to a multiyear deal, but he stated that if an agreement had not been made on the 2005-06 NHL season by the summer of 2005, he would retire from professional hockey. A deal was reached on July 13, 2005, and later ratified by the players and owners. Hašek returned to play for the Senators at the age of 40.

Dominik Hašek was supposed to be one of the biggest hockey stars of 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, but he injured his leg in the first match against Germany, playing only 9 minutes 25 seconds, and had to leave the tournament disappointed. Despite that, after his team finished on the 3rd place, he was awarded the bronze medal too.

Trivia
Hašek was arguably one of the most popular figures in the Czech Republic, especially after Nagano 1998; his reputation was comparable to the one of the then president Václav Havel. His popularity hadn't faded until an incident which took place in a "friendly" in-line hockey match on May 18, 2003, where Hašek revealed the darker side of his personality. On June 13, 2003 the police started inquiry into Hašek's brutal attack against his opponent, from May 18, 2003. According to the testimonies, Hašek checked his opponent from behind making him fall down, and then kept on hitting him in the head using his stick, not stopping till having knocked the opponent unconscious, with his victim sustaining a rather serious spinal injury. Despite many eye-witnesses being present to the accident, and the testimony being quite clear, the case has not yet been resolved, and the trial has been adjourned.