Tales of the Dominator: Coming to Buffalo

It can be difficult to separate myth from reality when it comes to Dominik Hasek.

The numbers alone sound like something out of folklore. Five seasons with a save percentage of .930 or better? No goalie in NHL history even has three.

Yet you glance at the bold, black numbers on his Hockey Reference page and confirm that, yes, it's true, and no, the Dominator was not like any other goaltender.

But where does it end? Shutouts in practice? Save totals in triple digits?

While we watch Hasek help lead the team to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final during "Sabres Classics" on MSG, we'll be telling some of our favorite Hasek stories here on Sabres.com.

Part 1: "I was born to be the goaltender"

"What does it mean to be drafted?"

We've already covered the fact that Hasek grew up idolizing the players in his native Czechoslovakia, not those in the NHL. Sure, he knew names like Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito, but he had never actually seen them play.

In other words, it was never Hasek's dream to play in the NHL.

"If you don't see them, they cannot become your heroes," Hasek explained. "So, my heroes were the Czech hockey players, Czech goalies, and these were the players I admired most. Of course, the biggest games were when the Czech play against Russia.

"I was always with my father or with my grandfather by my TV and cheering for the Czech national team. So, to thinking about the NHL, it came much, much later in the eighties."

The NHL was still not on the goaltender's radar in 1983, when an 18-year-old Hasek was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 10th round. He was with his Czech team in France for summer exhibition games when a friend told him the news.

"Dom, you were drafted by Chicago," the friend said.

Hasek had no idea what that meant.

"I didn't even listen to the person," Hasek said. "I didn't even pay attention. So, this is 1983. Of course, later on, I started to think about it, started to know about the NHL and it changed my mind."

Unconventional, athletic, and wiry

Gerry Meehan first became enamored with Hasek while watching him play on the international stage.

The Sabres had two No. 1 goalies in Daren Puppa and Clint Malarchuk, a predicament Meehan says wasn't working out for a variety of reasons. The general manager put it in his mind to look to acquire a "super goalie" to take the reins in net.

Then he saw Hasek - at the time a member of the Blackhawks - play for Czechoslovakia.

"He was their goalie and I think they played the Russians, but he faced something like 100 shots and they either tied or won, 2-1," Meehan said. "I said, 'He's unconventional, he's athletic, he's wiry, and he stops the puck as much as possible of any human being as a goalie.'"

One-hundred shots? A bit of tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, perhaps. Hasek did face 61 shots during a 2-1 loss to CSKA Moscow during the European Champions Cup in 1989, but that was two years prior to his being traded to the Sabres.

In any event, the strong impression stuck with Meehan. Hasek was 27 and, despite a stellar reputation from his international play, backing up another future Hall-of-Fame goaltender in Ed Belfour with the Blackhawks. Chicago general manager Mike Keenan was willing to move him for the right price.

"And Dominik has not established himself yet," Meehan said. "His credentials and statistics were excellent. But he hadn't broken through as a number one goalie, so nobody could actually say long term how he would fare as a number one goalie. I was prepared to take that gamble."

The trade took months to complete, with Meehan first expressing his interest around March. The Sabres sent Christian Ruuttu, the Blackhawks' preferred return, to Winnipeg in June in exchange for goaltender Stephane Beauregard. The deal was completed in August, when Beauregard was sent to Chicago along with a fourth-round in exchange for Hasek, then back to Winnipeg for Ruuttu.

"So basically, it was Ruuttu for Hasek," Meehan said. "… Christian was a very capable player. He was very useful with us. But it turned out that I think in the scheme of things, and history will tell us, Hasek had a way farther and greater impact on our organization."

39 reasons to love Buffalo

In retrospect, Hasek looks back at his two years in Chicago as an important developmental period. But the transition from Czechoslovakia to the United States was admittedly difficult.

"The people in North America did not think too much that in a small country like the Czech Republic would be good hockey players," Hasek said. "So, sort of Russian guys, they were thinking about them. OK, they are maybe like Canadians or North Americans. But a Czech goalie? OK. OK, maybe you play well over there but now it's time to show me what you can do. So, I had to prove everything.

"And, of course, the language was a problem because I had no idea what the coach was talking about in the locker room. I was sort of lost just because my English wasn't - I couldn't speak at all. So, it took a while to adjust to North American life and be part of the team."

Everything changed, he said, when he arrived in Buffalo. It started with a simple gesture from legendary equipment manager Rip Simonick.

It happened prior to training camp during informal skates at "Sabreland," the team's practice facility in Wheatfield. Hasek was on the bench with the other goalies when Simonick came to him and asked what number he would like to wear with the Sabres.

"I look at him like that and I said, 'What do you mean?'" Hasek recalled. "At that time I was at the age of 27 and never, ever had anybody asked me what jersey do I want to wear. Not in the Czech Republic, not when I played for the Junior or Czech National Team, or in Chicago or in Indianapolis. It was the first time ever somebody asked me.

"I look at him and I said, 'Oh. This is something different.' For me, it was completely different. I will remember it my whole life."