How can we miss you when you don't go away?

Dear Dominik:

Yeah, sure. You might be a really great goalie to some people, but despite your repeated Vezina Trophy wins, you never did a lot for me.

Must be that stupid-ass bucket you wear on your head.

And, yeah, it was all touching and shit when you finally got the Stanley Cup with Detroit, but a real champion knows when its time to call it a day.

That, my friend, ain't you. Because you still haven't figured it out.

I did some checking. Yes, you left after the '02 Cup win. But for some insane reason you came back. You played a whopping 14 games. 14. Why? Because your groin went out on you. Of course, you got to enjoy the 3-ring Circus, featureing: You, Curtis Joseph, and Manny Legace. Then you hung them up again over the 04-05 lockout. But nobody really expected you to come back. (to your credit, you did willingly give back a lot of the salary you signed for because you felt you really hadn't earned it.)

And yet, inexplicably, you did come back. To Ottawa, of all fucking places.

43 games played but only 28 wins. Oh, yeah...and you had all those wins in the first half of the season when, yep, your groin/adductor/whatever went out again. So the Sens put their playoff hopes on their rookie goalie. Might work in Carolina, but not in Ottawa, pal.

And here you are, inexplicably, back in the NHL with Detroit.

Dude, I don't get it. You don't really have anything left to prove and you're a trainer's nightmare because one mis-placed lunge with a pad and you're toast for the season.

Dom, you're done. The sooner you recognize this, the sooner you can get on with your life and we can get on with hockey.

Love,

NHL fans everywhere.

Technorati Tag: hockey