Detroit's early exit from the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs left
Curtis Joseph to be heavily scrutinized by the media as to whether or not he was up to task to start for Detroit. During the subsequent offseason,
Dominik Hasek shocked the hockey world when he announced he was coming out of retirement and fulfilling his contractual obligation to the Red Wings. Given their previous success with Hasek, the Red Wings welcomed him back to the team. With the Wings appearing to favor Hasek as their starting goaltender, Joseph opted to have surgery to repair his ankle prior to the start of the season, resulting with the Red Wings using Hasek and
Manny Legace as their goaltending tandem. When Joseph returned from injury and subsequent conditioning assignment in the minors, anger quickly grew on and off the ice between Hasek and Joseph. General Manager
Ken Holland attempted to move Joseph to alleviate the situation, but Holland was not able to find a trade partner nor give Joseph up via the waiver wire due to the hefty terms of his contract (the contract had two years remaining with an annual salary of US$8 million and a no-trade clause). Unable to continue holding three goaltenders on roster, Detroit elected to send Joseph to Detroit's minor league affiliate, the
Grand Rapids Griffins, on a permanent basis following a poor performance against the
Washington Capitals. While Hasek assumed the starting role, he did not do so with ease. Hasek was not conditioned properly to handle the competition at the NHL level and was wrought with inconsistent play and injuries. By December 2003, both Hasek and Legace went down with injuries and Joseph was recalled from the minors, along with
Joey MacDonald. While MacDonald was returned to the minors when Legace returned from injury, Joseph remained with the Red Wings as Hasek opted to remain on the injured reserve and did not return for the remainder of the season. Joseph and Legace would find themselves in a platoon situation until Joseph injured his ankle in a contest against the
San Jose Sharks. The Red Wings recalled
Marc Lamothe from the Griffins to support Legace. Lamothe would appear in two games during his time with Detroit, making him the fifth goaltender to dress for Detroit and the fourth to play for them that season (MacDonald did not play in any games while on roster). Lamothe was returned to the minors once Joseph returned from injury. Despite being viewed by many as Detroit's "third" goaltender, Manny Legace ended up the
de facto starting goaltender for the season, leading the other goaltenders on the team in games played, wins and
shutouts. (At the time, those were also career records for Legace.) Legace also had a better
save percentage and
goals against average (GAA) than either Hasek or Joseph. Based on his regular season play, Legace was named the starting goaltender going into the playoffs. During the opening round against the
Nashville Predators, Legace won the first two games, but was pulled after the fourth game following consecutive three-goal losses. Joseph took over the starting duties and responded admirably, posting a .300 GAA, .977 save percentage and one shutout for the remainder of the series. While Joseph had a strong performance against Calgary (1.83 GAA and .928 SV%), Detroit suffered an offensive drought and, with the series tied at two games a piece, were shut-out the final two games of the series, eliminating Detroit from the playoffs. Joseph never appeared for the Red Wings again, as the last year of his contract was nullified by the
2004–05 NHL lockout. Instead, Joseph signed with the
Phoenix Coyotes once the lockout was resolved. Legace went on to assume the starting role for Detroit, but was released after the season following another disappointing playoff exit. Hasek appeared with the
Ottawa Senators during the 2005–06 season, but later returned to Detroit for what would be his last two seasons as an NHL goaltender. == Regular season ==