Ken Dryden

Lore & Background

Dryden made his NHL debut on March 14, 1971, stopping 35 of 36 shots in a 5–1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played only six regular season games that year but posted a 1.65 goals against average, earning the starting playoff job ahead of veteran Rogie Vachon and helping the Canadiens win the Stanley Cup. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The following season he won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, having been ineligible the previous year due to insufficient regular season games. He is the only player in league history to win the Conn Smythe before the Calder and the only goaltender to capture both the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup before losing a regular season game.

Dryden stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and was known for his trademark pose of leaning on his stick when the puck was at the opposite end of the ice. Boston Bruins star Phil Esposito referred to him as 'that thieving giraffe' in reference to his skill and height. Unbeknownst to Dryden, his pose was exactly the same as that struck by fellow Canadiens goaltender Georges Vézina 60 years prior. He played for Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. He sat out the entire 1973–74 season due to a contract dispute, instead articling for a Toronto law firm to meet requirements for his Bachelor of Laws degree from McGill University. He retired for the last time on July 9, 1979.

Reader's Guide

Ken Dryden's NHL career was remarkably short—just over seven full seasons—yet his statistical percentages are unparalleled. He posted a 74.3 winning percentage, a 2.24 goals against average, a .922 save percentage, and 46 shutouts in 397 games. He won the Vezina Trophy five times (then awarded to the goaltender on the team allowing the fewest goals) and was selected as a First Team All-Star in each of those seasons. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked him number 25 on its list of the Top 100 NHL Players of All Time, a remarkable achievement for a player with a comparatively brief career. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 as soon as he was eligible. The NHL commemorated him as one of the league's 100 Greatest Players in 2017. His sweater number 29 was retired by the Canadiens on January 29, 2007, and his jersey number 1 was retired by Cornell University on February 25, 2010. He received the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2020. After his playing career, Dryden served as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011 and was appointed Minister of Social Development from 2004 to 2006, for which he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. He also wrote several books, including the critically acclaimed The Game (1983), and worked as a television hockey commentator at the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Winter Olympics, including providing color commentary for ABC's coverage of the 'Miracle on Ice.'

Did You Know?

• Dryden was drafted 14th overall by the Boston Bruins in 1964 but was traded to the Montreal Canadiens days later; he did not learn of the Bruins' draft until the mid-1970s.
• During the 1973–74 season, Dryden sat out due to a contract dispute and worked as a colour commentator for the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association.
• His book The Game (1983) was nominated for a Governor General's Award.

A Career of Unmatched Efficiency

Ken Dryden's time in the NHL spanned barely more than seven full seasons between 1971 and 1979, yet the statistical footprint he left behind remains extraordinary. Playing exclusively for the Montreal Canadiens, he captured six Stanley Cups and five Vezina Trophies, the latter awarded to the goaltender on the team that surrendered the fewest goals. His regular-season numbers tell the story of a player who simply did not lose: a 74.3 winning percentage, a 2.24 goals-against average, a .922 save percentage, and 46 shutouts across just 397 games. He was named a First Team All-Star in every single campaign in which he won the Vezina. In 1998, The Hockey News placed him at number 25 on its all-time Top 100 list, a remarkable ranking for a career so brief. His percentages, rather than raw totals, define his place in the sport's history, a testament to a goaltender who retired before his prime had fully faded.

Rookie Season and the Summit Series

Dryden's NHL arrival was anything but gradual. Called up from the minors in late March 1971, he appeared in just six regular-season games, posting a 1.65 goals-against average that immediately separated him from the rest. That performance earned him the starting job in the playoffs over veteran Rogie Vachon, and he guided Montreal to the Stanley Cup while capturing the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason's most valuable player. The following season, he added the Calder Memorial Trophy for rookie of the year, making him the only player in league history to win the Conn Smythe before the Calder. He also became the only goaltender to collect both the Conn Smythe and a Stanley Cup before ever losing a regular-season game. In the autumn of 1972, he suited up for Canada in the legendary Summit Series against the Soviet Union, a tournament he later chronicled in his book Face-Off at the Summit.

Law, Politics, and Public Service

Long before his hockey career ended, Dryden had already charted a path into law. He earned a Bachelor of Laws from McGill University in 1973 and, during the 1973–74 season, sat out hockey entirely to articulate at the Toronto firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, earning a modest $135 per week. He also interned with Ralph Nader's Public Citizen organization and attempted to establish an Ontario chapter of Public Interest Research Groups, inspired by Nader's advocacy. After hanging up his skates for good in July 1979, Dryden eventually entered federal politics. He served as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011 and held the cabinet position of Minister of Social Development from 2004 to 2006. For that service, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. His post-hockey life thus spanned the courtroom, the legislative chamber, and the broader public-interest arena, a breadth of engagement that few former athletes have matched.

A Legacy Etched in Ice and Memory

The honors that followed Dryden's playing days arrived with remarkable speed and continued to accumulate for decades. He entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, the first year he was eligible, and the Canadiens retired his number 29 on January 29, 2007. At Cornell, where he had backstopped the Big Red to the 1967 NCAA title and three straight ECAC championships while winning 76 of 81 varsity starts, his number 1 was retired in 2010, making him one of only two players ever to receive that distinction from the program. In 2017, the NHL named him among its 100 Greatest Players, and in 2020 he received the Order of Hockey in Canada. He was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. Standing six feet four, he was nicknamed the "four-storey goalie," and Boston's Phil Esposito once quipped that he was "that thieving giraffe." His trademark stick-lean pose, he later learned, mirrored one Georges Vézina had struck sixty years earlier.

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