Let’s be real - when people talk about hockey legends, names like Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby get tossed around like pucks on a breakaway. But if you haven’t heard of Ken Dryden, who succumbed to cancer this week, it’s time to catch up. This guy was a game-changer in every sense of the word - on the ice, in the locker room and even as a Member of the Canadian government.
Newly appointed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is big hockey fan and a recreational goalie. He had this to say about Ken Dryden:
Born in 1947 in working-class Hamilton, Ontario, Ken Dryden wasn’t your typical hockey star. Sure, he was tall (6'4", a giant in his era, affectionately known as The Four Storey Goalie), but he was also brainy. While most goalies were focused solely on blocking shots, Dryden was juggling NHL seasons and law school at the same time. Yeah, the man literally wrote a book during his playing career. Ever heard of multitasking?
“It’s quiet. The music has stopped. For some, the weekend is over. They gather up cigarettes and coats, say perfunctory goodbyes; at a table at the back, no one moves. It is our time. The luckless climb from their barstools; more tables are pieced together. Jackets get slung into chairs, ties loosen, talk comes dressing room-easy. It’s about goals and goals missed, money, women, cars, golf. Anything. Stories that we’ve heard before, and some we haven’t; and will again. It’s my favorite time, when something is done and over, and good, when there’s nothing more to do, and no place to go until morning. Everything slows down. Words get softer. We speak of “the game” this, “the game” that. Sentences trail off, never finished. Things go unsaid. Yet we nod and understand. It is at moments like this that I remember why I play.” (Excerpt from The Game by Ken Dryden, widely regarded as the best hockey book ever written)
Dryden’s NHL career was short by superstar standards - just seven full seasons with the Montreal Canadiens from 1971 to 1979, but it was legendary. He won six Stanley Cups in those seven years. Let that sink in. Imagine joining a team, dominating and then peacing out while still at your peak. That was the Dryden way.
What made him stand out? He wasn’t flashy. He was calm, calculated and clutch.
Unlike others, Ken Dryden stood upright in the net, combining his towering height with precise positioning and sharp anticipation. His calm, cerebral approach let him control rebounds, read plays before they developed and make shooters feel like the net had suddenly shrunk, turning his stand-up style into a masterclass of both skill and strategy.
“I feel nothing, I hear nothing, my eyes watch the puck, my body moves - like a goalie moves, like I move; I don’t tell it to move or how to move or where, I don’t know it’s moving, I don’t feel it move - yet it moves. And when my eyes watch the puck, I see things I don’t know I’m seeing. I see Larson and Nedomansky as they come on the ice, I see them away from the puck unthreatening and uninvolved. I see something in the way a shooter holds his stick, in the way his body angles and turns, in the way he’s being checked, in what he’s done before that tells me what he’ll do - and my body moves. I let it move. I trust it and the unconscious mind that moves it.” (Ken Dryden, The Game)
And his stats? Pure fire: a 2.24 career goals-against average and five Vezina Trophies (best goalie in the NHL). He even won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP before his rookie season. How? He was called up for the playoffs and straight-up dominated.
“I consider goaltending the most noble position in all sports … the position where you (can) be the cause, where you (can) have the biggest effect on the game.” (revered Canadian rock singer-songwriter, best known as the frontman and lyricist for the Canadian band The Tragically Hip, also a recreational goalie who admired Ken Dryden)
Memorable to many Baby Boomers, Dryden tended the net for 4 out of 8 games during the infamous 1972 Canada-USSR Summit Series. Watched by more than 100 million television viewers, he made a strong debut in Game 1, helping Canada to a 7-3 win in Montreal, establishing Canada’s early momentum in the Cold War series, which Canada eventually won despite an extremely charged, controversial atmosphere.
So, why did he quit so early?
Dryden wasn’t just playing hockey, he was thinking about it. He had a law degree from Cornell and was already envisioning life beyond the rink. In fact, he walked away from the NHL at just 31 years old, still in his prime. His reason?
“I didn’t retire because I was tired of playing. I retired because I had done what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to just hang around.” (Ken Dryden)
Bottom line: Dryden didn’t just stop pucks for the Montreal Canadiens (also known as The Habs), he stopped time. Six seasons, six Cups and a legacy still untouched. If you’re drafting your dream team, start in the net. The name is Dryden.
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