Hasek started playing hockey at the age of six in his native Czechoslovakia. As he explains: They held a tryout for 5-year-old boys and my father took me there. I didn't even have real skates. I had those blades that you screwed onto the soles of your shoes, but I was tall, and the 9-year-olds didn't have a goalie, so they put me in with them and thats where I fell in love with the game of hockey.

Before the start of the next season, Hasek was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in an attempt to lower the Sabres' payroll and to send Hasek to a more competitive team. He was dealt for Vyacheslav Kozlov, a first round selection in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and future considerations, which eventually became the draft pick of Jim Slater. During his first season with Detroit, Hasek posted a career high 41 wins with just 15 losses, helping the Red Wings earn the President's Trophy with the league's best record. In the playoffs, he led the Wings past the Vancouver Canucks, the St. Louis Blues, the Colorado Avalanche and eventually the Carolina Hurricanes in the finals to win the Stanley Cup. During the conference finals against Colorado, he became the first goalie to be awarded an assist on an overtime game-winning goal in the post-season after passing the puck to Wings captain Steve Yzerman, who then assisted Fredrik Olausson in scoring the final goal of the third game of that series. He also set a record for most shutouts in a post-season with six, broken the year after by Martin Brodeur with seven.  That summer, Hasek officially announced his retirement so that he could spend time with his family and other hobbies. However, after Detroit's first round loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the following season, he expressed his desire to play again. This created a difficult situation for the Red Wings, who had two years left on Curtis Joseph's three-year $24 million contract, which had a no-trade clause. Detroit was also under pressure knowing that the rival Avalanche would be looking for a goalie to replace Patrick Roy after his retirement. With Manny Legace also on the Wings' roster, Detroit now had three potential starting goalies.  In the 2003-04 season Hasek injured his groin after playing just 14 games. On January 9, he and the team agreed he should rest his injury for two to four weeks. Hasek privately told general manager Ken Holland that he would not accept any pay while he was injured. On February 10, he announced that he was not going to continue to play that season, surprising the Red Wings management. He eventually revealed that he refused about $3 million of his $6 million salary. In April 2004, he underwent groin surgery in Prague, and returned to his hometown of Pardubice to recuperate.

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