Joseph hoping to revive career

and goaltender Dominik Hasek had retired, along with head coach Scotty Bowman.

Joseph played very well in the 2002-03 season, starting 61 games, but then bore the brunt of the blame when the Wings were swept in the first round of the playoffs by Anaheim despite surrending only 10 goals. The next fall, Hasek came out of retirement, leaving the Wings in a predicament when they couldn’t trade Joseph. He briefly went to the minors, starting one game for Grand Rapids, but suddenly was needed again when Hasek went down with a season- ending hip injury.

In the playoffs, however, he was again viewed as a bust when Detroit was ousted early for the second straight year.

In 13 playoff appearances with Detroit, Joseph surrendered only 22 goals, but his 4- 8 record left him targeted as a major failure.

“ Maybe it wasn’t the perfect situation in Detroit after all,” he said. “After Scotty left, after winning the Cup, maybe it was an impossible situation.”

His search for work in the postlockout world has brought him to Arizona and created the need for some tricky manoeuvring to accommodate the hockey dreams of his two sons, 11- year- old Taylor and 9- year-old Tristan. Both boys will commute north this season to play hockey in the Toronto area while living in Phoenix and being home schooled by a tutor.

Clearly, staying in Toronto would have avoided much of that which has occurred to Joseph’s life and career. He remains a wealthy man with four healthy children and a new employer that needs him to be as good as he once was. Here in the desert, he hopes to rise again.