Reports: Hasek calls for NHL to immediately suspend contracts for all Russian players

Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek gestures to the crowd after finishing his speech during a pre-game ceremony retiring his number prior to the start of a Buffalo Sabres NHL hockey game in 2015. (AP/file)

A Twitter account that appears to belong to Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek called Saturday for the NHL to suspend contracts of all Russian players in the wake of Russia's attack on Ukraine this week.

"The NHL must immediately suspend contracts for all Russian players!" the tweet reads. "Every athlete represents not only himself and his club, but also his country and its values and actions. That is a fact. If the NHL does not do so, it has indirect co-responsibility for the dead in Ukraine."

Several media outlets, including USA Today and the New York Post, first reported on the tweets on Saturday.

Hasek, 57, in the Twitter thread also criticized Russian superstar Alex Ovechkin's call for "no more war" when he spoke to the media on Friday. Ovechkin, who lives in Russia with his family in the off-season, campaigned for Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014.

“What!? Not only an ablist, a chicken s–t, but also a liar!” Hasek tweeted. “Every adult in Europe knows well, that Putin is a mad killer and that Russia is waging an offensive war against a free country and its people."

Hasek was born in 1965 in what was then called Czechoslovakia, which was under Soviet rule. His career highlights came in the nets of Buffalo and Detroit, where he won two Stanley Cups, but he also played for Chicago and Ottawa. He spent a season in the KHL after his NHL career was over.

An NHL spokesman did not provide a comment on Hasek's tweets when contacted by Sportsnet.

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