Ken Dryden
Canadiens goaltender; six Stanley Cups; only player to win Conn Smythe before Calder.
Last updated
Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0
He played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1971 to 1979, winning the Stanley Cup six times and the Vezina Trophy five times.[1] Dryden was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and later served as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011.[1]
Life and work
Dryden was born in Hamilton, Ontario, raised in Islington, and played junior hockey for the Etobicoke Indians and Humber Valley Packers.[2][3] Instead of turning professional immediately, Dryden earned a Bachelor of Arts in History at Cornell University, where he backstopped the Big Red to the 1967 NCAA championship.[4] He made his NHL debut on March 14, 1971, stopping 35 of 36 shots in a 5–1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.[5] Dryden retired for good on July 9, 1979, with a regular-season record including a 74.3 winning percentage and a 2.24 goals-against average.[6][7]
After hockey, he served as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1997 until a management shakeup in 2003.[8][9] He was elected to the House of Commons in 2004, appointed Minister of Social Development, and ran for the Liberal Party leadership in 2006.[10][11][12] During his first playoff season, Dryden received the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the postseason, and in the subsequent season he earned the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league's top rookie.[13][14]
What the cited sources add
A 2012 article by Cohen states that Dryden was elevated to Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to hockey, law, writing, and politics.[15] The same Cohen article notes that Dryden attended law school at the University of Manitoba and later at McGill University.[15]
References
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cohen, "7 in legal profession get Order of Canada honours", December 31, 2012; Coffey, "Ken Dryden: 100 Greatest NHL Players", NHL.com, January 1, 2017; NHL, "Ken Dryden won Conn Smythe before he won Calder", March 22, 2017; "Class of 2020 unveiled for Order of Hockey in Canada", Hockey Canada, February 11, 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cole, "The Canadian Hockey Atlas", Doubleday Canada, 2006 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dryden, "The outrageous, embarrassing, unmissable problem with hockey", Maclean's, October 16, 2017; Hickey, "Best trades in Canadiens history: Dryden deal set Cup dynasty in motion", Montreal Gazette, December 10, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Cornell Daily Sun, May 9, 1968; Hartigan, "Big Red to Celebrate the Life and Legacy of Ken Dryden '69 on Nov. 14", Cornell University Athletics, March 15, 2026; "Larger than the sport", IIHF.com, March 28, 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Montreal Canadiens vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score: March 14, 1971", Hockey-Reference.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scanlan, "McGill grad Ken Dryden trades pucks for politics", McGill Athletics, May 18, 2004; "From the archives: Dryden announces retirement", The Globe and Mail, July 10, 1979 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kay, "The Top 100 NHL players of all-time, throwback style", The Hockey News, April 2, 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scanlan, "McGill grad Ken Dryden trades pucks for politics", McGill Athletics, May 18, 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Scanlan, "McGill grad Ken Dryden trades pucks for politics", McGill Athletics, May 18, 2004; Galloway, "Former hockey great Ken Dryden moves into politics", McGill Athletics, May 18, 2004; Feschuk, "Ken Dryden was more than a great Canadien. He was a great Canadian who helped the Leafs through troubled times", Toronto Star, September 7, 2025 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Labbé, "Un de plus grand gardiens de l'histoire s'eteint", La Presse, September 6, 2025; Moloney, "Dryden goes down to defeat", Toronto Star, May 3, 2011; "File_8703_BROADBENT_DRYDEN_Ken_027_LSV-1012.jpg", Agence Quebec Presse, March 11, 1987 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Election results...riding by riding", The Globe and Mail, June 29, 2004, p. A14; "Who does what in the new federal cabinet", The Hamilton Spectator, July 21, 2004, p. A10; Dugas, "A Verbal Slapshot; MP tells child-care minister Ken Dryden: 'We don't need old white guys telling us what to do'", The Hamilton Spectator, February 16, 2005, p. A10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "And then there were 10 ... Ken Dryden is in", CBC News, April 28, 2006 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paikin, "How Toronto's Ken Dryden achieved immortality in Montreal", TVO, February 1, 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Ken Dryden" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: NHL, "Ken Dryden won Conn Smythe before he won Calder", March 22, 2017; Matisz, "How Ken Dryden remembers the Summit Series, 50 years later", theScore, September 1, 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Cohen, "7 in legal profession get Order of Canada honours", December 31, 2012. facts only, no text reused. canadianlawyermag.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Ken Dryden (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
Career statistics and honours
International
| Year | Team | Event | GP | W | L | T | MIN | GA | SO | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 120 | 4 | 1 | 2.00 | ||
| 1972 | Canada | SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 240 | 19 | 0 | 4.75 |
| Senior totals | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 360 | 23 | 1 | 3.83 | ||
Awards and honours
| Award | Year | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| College | ||
| All-ECAC First Team | 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 | |
| AHCA East All-American | 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 | |
| ECAC All-Tournament First Team | 1967, 1968, 1969 | |
| NCAA All-Tournament First Team | 1967 | |
| NCAA All-Tournament Second Team | 1968, 1969 | |
| February 25, 2010 | ||
| National Hockey League | ||
| Conn Smythe Trophy winner | 1971 | |
| 1972 | ||
| Vezina Trophy winner | 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 | |
| Stanley Cup champion | 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 | |
| NHL All-Star Game participant | 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 | |
| 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 | ||
| 1972 | ||
| Named to league's list of 100 Greatest NHL Players | 2017 | |
| Montreal Canadiens | ||
| No. 29 jersey retired by the franchise | January 29, 2007 | |
| Miscellaneous | ||
| Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame | 1983 | |
| No. 25 on The Hockey News list of the Top 100 NHL Players of All Time | 1998 | |
| Inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame | 2011 | |
| Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada | 2012 | |
| Recipient of the Order of Hockey in Canada | 2020 | |
| Honorary degree | University | Year | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honorary LLD degree | University of British Columbia | 1992 | |
| Honorary LLD degree | York University | 1996 | |
| Honorary LLD degree | University of Windsor | 1997 | |
| Honorary DUniv degree | University of Ottawa | 2000 | |
| Honorary LLD degree | McMaster University | 2003 | |
| Honorary DCL degree | Saint Mary's University | 2004 | |
| Honorary LLD degree | Ryerson University | 2013 | |
| Honorary DLitt degree | University of Winnipeg | 2013 | |
| Honorary DLitt degree | 2018 |
Tables copied from the source article, totals included as the source gives them: Wikipedia: Ken Dryden (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wide tables scroll sideways.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Ken Dryden (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Statistics, medals and awards: the tables of the source article.
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