MOSCOW, November 29. Two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic champion in the Czech national hockey team Dominik Hasek said that he first of all condemns the leadership of the National Hockey League (NHL) because they are not interested in removing Russian athletes.
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“I personally wrote a letter to Gary Bettman (NHL Commissioner) at the beginning of the situation in Ukraine. I also contacted him a second time at the end of 2022. I can put as much pressure as I want, but there is no point in this as long as there is no interest on their part in disqualifying Russian hockey players from the NHL. At the moment, I condemn not only the Russian players, but above all the NHL, which allows them to play. It's sad, but that's the situation. “I’m trying to do everything to change it,” tvnoviny.sk quotes Hasek as saying.
Also, the former goalkeeper of Moscow “Spartak” spoke about the Russian defender of the “Calgary Flames” Nikita Zadorov, who recently gave his comment on the situation in the Russian Federation.
“”Sorry, but he did not condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine. His interview is a step in the right direction, but this is not enough. We will need to work with this boy. I believe that he will be able to condemn what is happening, becoming a better ambassador for peace,” Hasek added.
In February 2022, Hasek called on the NHL to suspend the contracts of Russian players due to the situation in Ukraine. In the summer of the same year, Hasek proposed putting Czechs in prison for 15 years for working in Russia. This year, Hasek criticized the NHL's All-Star Game as “an advertisement for Russian aggression” and said the league had “hit rock bottom.” The appearance on the ice of Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin along with his eldest son Sergei, who became the winners of the competition for the most spectacular shootout, was called by the two-time Stanley Cup winner a “vile act” and “spitting on” Ukrainian children. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that Hasek's latest statements regarding the league's policy towards Russian players hardly reflect the position of the Czech people and the country's authorities.
Hašek is 58 years old, an Olympic champion (1998) and two-time Stanley Cup winner. He played in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabers, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators. In the 2010/11 season he defended the goal of Spartak Moscow, playing in the Continental Hockey League (KHL).
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