Czech goalie Hasek poised for Spartak Moscow move
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former NHL All-Star goaltender Dominik Hasek is set to join Spartak Moscow, the Continental Hockey League (KHL) club said on Wednesday.
Spartak will hold a news conference on Monday to announce the signing of the 45-year-old, who came out of retirement last year to play for Pardubice in his native Czech Republic.
Hasek retired from the NHL in 2008 after lifting the Stanley Cup for the second time with the Detroit Red Wings.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}His best years were with the Buffalo Sabres where he won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1997 and 1998 and also claimed the Vezina Trophy as the best netminder six times from 1994-2001.
Hasek led the Czechs to the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Games when leading NHL players were allowed to take part in the Olympics for the first time.
He has been persuaded to move to Spartak by the club's Czech coach Milos Riha, the goalie told Russian media.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Hockey experts say KHL is the top league in Europe so I want to try it. Mr Riha has told me a lot of interesting things about Moscow and the Russian league."
The KHL, formed in 2008 with teams from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan, is trying to lure big-name players to rival the NHL.
Hasek's fellow Czech and former NHL All-Star forward Jaromir Jagr has played for Siberian club Avangard Omsk, who are also in the KHL, since 2008.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov, editing by Tony Jimenez)