Ken Dryden

By Mark Lidbetter
The Suburban

Montreal Canadiens’ legendary goaltender Ken Dryden born Aug. 8, 1947, died last Friday at the age of 78 following a short battle with cancer. The Hockey Hall of Fame member led the Canadiens to six Stanley Cups in the 1970s. Dryden became a lawyer while playing for Montreal and in his retirement, was an author, TV analyst, hockey executive and a member of Canada’s Parliament.

Dryden represented his country on and off the ice. He was a key member of the 1972 Summit Series team that had a historic win over the Soviet Union and in his post-playing days as a member of Parliament served his constituents for three terms. That commitment to Canada saw Dryden named as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2013. “Ken Dryden was an exceptional athlete, but he was also an exceptional man,” Montreal Canadiens president Geoff Molson said in a statement from the organization. “Behind the mask he was larger than life. We mourn today not only the loss of the cornerstone of one of hockey’s greatest dynasties, but also a family man, a thoughtful citizen, and a gentleman who deeply impacted our lives and communities across generations. He was one of the true legends that helped shape this club into what it is today.”

Following the announcement of his death, fans began to arrive at his statue outside of Place Bell and his famous The Goalie statue outside of St. Laurent’s Raymond Bourque Arena to pay their respects and to leave flowers or a memento. One such fan was Domenic Pascarella, a Toronto native and a lifelong Habs fan. The 57-year-old Pascarella was in Quebec City with his wife when he heard the news and made it a point to stop in Montreal on his way back home to pay his respects and remember how Dryden had thrilled him in his youth. “It was something not expecting him to pass, it was something that was shocking,” Dominic Pascarella said. “I was eight years old, watching them beating the Toronto Maple Leafs. watching them in the playoffs. You have to give respect to the whole team that that they had in the 70s. He did represent a lot of us in Canada. And growing up as an immigrant Italian, hockey was the number one sport in our house.”

Dryden has ties to NDG as at the start of his career he lived in the L’Scale West on Monkland. When local kids caught word of that, they’d hang out every now and then trying to catch a glimpse or an autograph. He also played tennis at the Monkland Tennis Club.

Dryden’s legacy will be forever present as the statue of his iconic pose The Goalie, created by Canadian artist Robin Bell stands in front of St. Laurent’s Raymond Bourque Arena. When it was dedicated there, Dryden liked the fact it was a nod and a wink to the Habs’ longstanding rivalry with Bourque’s Bruins. “I hadn’t even thought of that until Alan (St. Laurent Mayor DeSousa) mentioned it,” Ken Dryden said in a 2023 interview. “It’s perfect,” “I think to this day, and it was certainly during the time that it was great. The best games the most interesting, the most testing games we had were against the Bruins, and there was no team that we wanted to beat more than the Bruins and happily we did.”

Dryden’s path to the professional ranks started when he was selected by the Boston Bruins in the third round of the 1964 NHL Draft. Two weeks later Boston traded the 16-year-old goalie’s rights to the Canadiens, but prior to what would have been his first pro training camp, Dryden chose to attend Cornell University. As a member of the Big Red, Dryden posted a record of 76-4 with one tie and a 1.59 goals-against average in 83 games during three seasons (1966-69) for Cornell. He then had his first opportunity to represent Canada as he played in the 1969 IIHF World Championships.

Dryden made his professional debut in 1970-71 with the AHL’s Montreal Voyageurs where the lanky netminder went 16-7 with eight ties in 33 games. That effort saw Dryden called to the parent club when Rogatien Vachon was injured. After playing in six regular-season games, Dryden went on a tear between the pipes, leading his team to the Stanley Cup title. His play was so strong that Dryden won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player.

The following season Dryden would earn the Calder Memorial Trophy as the League’s best rookie for 1971-72. In that rookie campaign he led the NHL with 39 wins and ranked in the top four in the league in goals-against average (2.24, fourth), save percentage (.930, third) and shutouts (eight, second). “From the moment Ken Dryden joined the Montreal Canadiens as a 23-year-old rookie in 1971, he made an immediate and lasting impact on the NHL, the Canadiens franchise and the goaltending position,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.

In a brief eight-year career with the Canadiens Dryden led the Habs to six Stanley Cup championships. He won five Vezina Trophies as the League’s top goaltender, including four consecutive awards from 1975-76 to 1978-79. The McGill alum was named as a member of the League’s Greatest 100.

Dryden, who had earned his law degree at McGill, got to put it into practice clerking with a Toronto law firm as he sat out the 1973-74 season. He decided to retire at the age of 26 due to being unhappy with the contract offered to him by the club.

Dryden returned to the fold in the fall of 1974 looking like he hadn’t missed a beat during his brief retirement. With Dryden in nets, the Canadiens began a run of four consecutive Stanley Cup championships starting with a sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1976 Final. The 1976-77 Canadiens became the first team in NHL history to win 60 games during the regular season, then proceeded to put the broom to the Bruins in the Final. They bested Boston again in 1978 and dropped the New York Rangers in 1979 for their fourth consecutive title.

Dryden retired for good following the 1979 championship, while many felt he was still at the top of his game. His career numbers are 258-57 with 74 ties, a 2.24 GAA, .922 save percentage and 46 shutouts in 397 regular-season games (389 starts). He was 80-32 with a 2.41 GAA, .915 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 112 playoff games. Dryden was tapped five times as the Vezina Trophy recipient in his eight NHL campaigns. In 2007 his No. 29 was retired and raised to the rafters of the Bell Centre.

In 1980, Dryden got to take part in more hockey history, this time as a television analyst. Dryden was in the booth at Lake Placid’s Olympic Arena alongside Al Michaels for Team USA’s Miracle on Ice win over the Russians. Dryden served as an analyst for the 1984 and 1988 Olympic broadcasts as well.

With the release of “The Game” in 1983, Dryden became a best-selling author. The book focused on Dryden’s 1978-79 season and is considered to be one of the best books on sport, not just hockey, to be written. Dryden went on to pen several more books, including his final tome, “The Class”, published in 2023.

In 1997 Dryden was named president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. A position he held until 2004. The reason for Dryden departing was to run for a seat in Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party. Dryden won handily and was appointed as Minister of Social Development. He held onto his seat in Toronto’s York Centre riding in 2006 and again in 2008, then lost in 2011.

At request of the Dryden family, those wishing to honor his memory are encouraged to make a donation to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, or the Concussion Legacy Foundation. n