It's easy to say this will be Dominik Hasek's last season in Detroit. His numbers are, for the most part, unimpressive, and he hasn't exactly played like the Dominator of old on a consistent basis. With Osgood locked up long-term and Jimmy Howard waiting for a shot, many are assuming he won't be back. But when I look at the Wings' current roster and cap situation, I'm not convinced this should be Hasek's final ride.

First, and most importantly, the Wings currently will have between $10 and $15 million to play with this off-season. If they choose to, they'll have to re-sign Andreas Lilja, Chris Chelios, Aaron Downey, Dallas Drake, and Dominik Hasek before July 1. Lilja will probably demand somewhere between $2 and $3 million. Considering he makes $1 million right now, $2 million seems like a fair raise, and you have to figure a few teams might be interested in signing him, which will drive his price up. Excluding Hasek, the rest of the bunch could be had for $2.5 million combined. While that leaves Ken Holland a lot of room to add a big name player.

There is, however, one problem. The Wings still have to sign Henrik Zetterberg to an extension after next season, so kiss any potential long-term free agents goodbye. Zetterberg makes $2.5 million next season before he's a free agent, and you can expect him to make $7+ million on the open market. Johan Franzen will also need a new contract, so all that leftover money will be spent rather quickly.

Secondly, the window for Detroit to win a championship is closing. If they don't win the Cup this season, they'll have one more year of salary cap flexibility to add short-term players for a long playoff run. That, and Nicklas Lidstom will retire, and we know what will happen after that. If the goaltending tandem next year is Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard, I'll be a little worried, especially if fans expect them to be a legit contender.

Being able to sign a goalie with Hasek's experience for, relatively, cheap salary is a no brainier to me. Howard may be a great goalie one day, but it's not worth the cost to find out. You have to stop looking at the number next to Hasek's age and realize he's a big game goalie who always has a tip-top work ethic. Despite his numbers, Dom still has the ability to make the big save, which is something Howard will never do, unless it's by accident.

Detroit has let in the fewest goals this season and spending around $2.5 million doing so. That is shocking when you consider the price of good goaltenders these days. According to NHLPA.com, here are some goalies that make more than both Detroit goalies combine: Martin Biron, Martin Gerber, Olaf Kolzig, Tomas Vokoun, Dwayne Roloson, Nikolai Khabibulin, and Jose Theodore. Anyone want to trade Hasek and Osgood for any one of those goalies? Detroit has the best of both words at a third of the price. The goalie by committee system works, and the 1996-97 season proved that.

Maybe my blind love for Hasek is clouding my judgment, but I don’t see the need to kick one of the best goalies to ever play the game to the curb if he's willing to stay for cheap.