MOSCOW, January 29 Two-time Stanley Cup winner, Olympic champion As part of the Czech national hockey team, Dominik Hasek said that he was not going to return the money he earned in Moscow Spartak.
Hašek defended the goal of the “red-whites” in the 2010/11 season.
“I received them for my work, the club doesn’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe them anything,” Hasek told CNN Prima News when asked if he was going to return the money he earned while playing for Spartak. — I personally do not demand anything from it (the club — approx.) for the fact that the situation in Russia has changed. As far as I remember, not a single politician, official or anyone else warned me about any danger or illegality of playing Russia».
“»I don’t so much condemn our athletes for working there as I condemn for this, first of all, our legislators, who established the rules allowing our citizens to work in Russia. Our citizens, in this case athletes, provide labor and create values , which Russia uses against us and our allies,” Hasek added.
In February 2022, Hasek called on the National Hockey League (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. In 2023, Hasek criticized the NHL All-Star Game as «an advertisement for Russian aggression» and said the league had «hit rock bottom.» NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman later 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 59 years old, he is an Olympic champion (1998) and a two-time Stanley Cup winner. He played in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabers, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators.