Six-time NHL top goaltender Dominik Hasek has announced his retirement from the sport after failing to find an NHL team for a second comeback, he told Czech newspaper Sport on Tuesday.
The decision brings the curtain down on a career stretching back to 1981 that saw Hasek win Olympic gold and become the only goaltender to be named NHL MVP twice.
“It was very sad, but nothing can be done,” Hasek said of the collapse of talks with “two or three” unnamed teams in the currently locked-out North American league.
Hasek, 47, has not played since leaving Russia’s Spartak Moscow last year but his agent had reportedly been in talks with the Carolina Hurricanes and Vancouver Canucks of the NHL in recent weeks after Hasek decided against playing in Europe.
Hasek said he would still be happy to receive an NHL offer but believed a second return to hockey’s top league was now impossible after the start of pre-season for farm teams there.
“I see no reason why I would now suddenly be someone they want in the NHL,” he said.
Working as a coach or a general manager does not appeal, Hasek said.
The Czech goaltender is a six-time NHL All-Star who played 735 NHL games, with a further 119 playoff games.
He first retired in 2008 before returning to hockey a year later with his hometown team Pardubice in the Czech Extraliga, where he had been training in recent weeks.
He won Olympic gold in Nagano in 1998 with the Czech Republic, when he was named the tournament's top goaltender.
