Written by Graeme Nichols | 21 April 2009

You see what I did with the headline? It's like two-parts Ottawa Sun, mixed with 1-part queef and we're all the better for it.

News this morning is that former Senator Dominik Hasek has decided to come out of retirement at the tender of 44 to play for his hometown team of Pardubice of the Czech League next season. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Dom is willing to play again. After winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2002, he came out of retirement to play for our Ottawa Senators during the 2003/04 season -- A season that was marred by an injury to Dom's hip abductor during his play at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Maybe it's with some lingering bitterness that I read the following:

Hasek said he didn’t know whether the Czech coaches are interested in having him on the team, but that playing in another Olympics “will be a motivation for me in training.” ~ Yahoo! Sports

That's great news for Pardubice. Forget the calculated risk of signing an aging Hall of Fame goaltender who wants another kick at the can. Now Hasek has Olympic dreams all over again. If I'm the manager of Pardubice, I'm scouring the Czech CBA to see if I can prevent Hasek from participating.

Why?

Bias.

I'm not even sensationalizing when I say that no single-course of action has had bigger ramifications on this team than Hasek's decision to go to Turin. Let's revisit the 2005/06 season and ask ourselves What if Dom didn't go to Turin?

At the outset two scenarios play out:

1) Regardless of whether he played at Turin, his abductor could have blown out during the regular season and the events would have unfolded as they did.

2) He stays healthy and sets off a chain of events that completely alters the course of history for the organization.

Had Hasek stayed healthy and maintained his torrid pace that saw him compile a 28-10-0 record, a 2.09 GAA, 5 SO's and a save percentage of .925, there's no question that it would have put the Senators in a better position to have advanced against the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals. Not only would Hasek have made a difference in that wild 7-6 first game loss, he easily could have been the difference in the rest of the one-goal games. Remember that conversation that Alfredsson and a few other "leaders" had that essentially begged Hasek to come back and play injured after game 1? That never would have occurred. Instead, the team would have been able to play with the confidence, knowing that their goaltender would be there to atone for their errors.

If Ottawa had beaten the Sabres that series, the scenario really becomes a full-blown chaos theory. There would have been less attention paid the difficulty Chara had handling Buffalo's speed and instead, as Ottawa went further into the postseason, there would have been subsequent fan and media pressure to keep the core together. (It would have mirrored the situation that occurred once Ottawa was beaten by Anaheim in the 2007 Cup Finals.) Had Chara and Redden stayed, Joe Corvo never would have been signed and the consequences of their contracts likely would have lead to the departure of one or both of Phillips and Volchenkov after the 2007 season. With defensive toughness not an issue in the summer of 2008, it's likely that Jason Smith never would have been signed either.

If Ottawa advanced past Buffalo, Carolina's physicality could have exposed the weaknesses in Wade Redden's game instead. Rather than Chara, it could have been Redden who was talked out of town by the local media.

Obviously, because of Hasek's position, the goaltending situation would have unfolded differently. With continued success, I'm convinced that Hasek would have been extended following that season or maybe he plays for two more seasons like he did in Detroit. Ray Emery never would have had his opportunity in 05/06 and there's absolutely no way the team ever would have had entrusted him to handle the starting duties in 06/07. Maybe this leads to some Emery sulking or a trade request? At the very least it means that he never would have received his infamous 3 year, $9M+ contract. More importantly, Hasek's return would have meant that Martin Gerber never would have been signed. Instead, Gerber's $3.6M salary could have been used to employ some more secondary scoring or to retain Havlat and/or the Big Z.

Although the last few paragraphs might have induced a few boners through fantasy, the health of Hasek's hip abductor might have had some negative consequences as well. For starters, John Muckler could still be steering this ship. If that doesn't make you flaccid, perhaps the thoughts of more botched draft picks and bad deadline acquisitions will leave you softer than Ken Hitchcock's jowel. Erik Karlsson? Never would have happened. Ryan Shannon? Meh, trade for Tyler Arnason. Vaclav Varada? Still playing left-wing on the first-line. Bryan Murray? Probably resigns over Muckler's bunglings.

Had Ottawa won the Cup in '06, it likely would have created some unforeseen problems down the road. But hey, at the very least, those Tampa Bay Lightning analogies would be a little more accurate. Right now, Ottawa's just that team that blew it during their window of opportunity.

< Prev		Next >