There’s something about hockey’s history that makes everyone who is a fan feel and live it, even if they didn’t see and experience it. It’s why so many fans feel the loss of Ken Dryden, even if many of them never saw him play. To have a clear memory of Dryden, you have to be at least 50 years old or older and live in the select few cities that had NHL teams or carried the Montreal Canadiens broadcasts.
Outside of the weekly Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts — which were often dominated by Toronto Maple Leafs matches — hockey games were rarely available to the national audience in the 1970s. In the United States, NBC carried games during part of Dryden’s career. However, these were usually U.S.-based team games, particularly the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.
Nevertheless, hockey fans everywhere the loss of a legend.
Dryden was a legitimate legend
The word “legendary” is overused. Nevertheless, Dryden was a legitimate legend.
He’s one of the hockey greats who is often mentioned when talking about the good old days, when the game felt pure and more competitive (even if it wasn’t). In the streets of Montreal, there’s a living and breathing feeling of the greats who once played there, with Dryden being an integral part of it.
In many ways, he embodied what was needed from a goaltender. Even with all the advanced stats and analytics that people use today to define the position, from goals saved above average (GSAA) or goals saved above expected (GSAE), great goaltenders at the end of the day win games. Nobody did it better in the 1970s than Dryden.
Dryden made great teams even greater
Dryden went 258-57-74 in the regular season, as if that’s the way we measure his success. He went 80-32 in the playoffs, won the Vezina Trophy five times, and the Stanley Cup title six times in his eight seasons in the NHL. When the Canadiens needed to win games, he was in the net to hold things down and secure the victories for one of the last great dynasties in the NHL.
The Canadiens of that era were known for their star players. In the Hockey Hall of Fame, there’s a locker room devoted to the greats, including Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Yvan Cournoyer, and Maurice Richard. In the corner of the room, fittingly, are the goaltenders, with Dryden’s spot standing out. He wasn’t the standout on those teams, yet his presence was felt.
Dryden left hockey for the 1973-74 season to study law, an unthinkable thing in the modern NHL but a necessary thing in the 1970s for players who needed a second career. The Canadiens lost their first playoff series to the New York Rangers that year. Every Cup team needs a goaltender, and Dryden was that player for the Canadiens.
Not only was Dryden a winner, but he also kept winning even when it was boring to do so. When a team wins as much as the Canadiens did, it’s hard to keep that motivation and fire to stay on top. In Dryden’s book The Game (a must-read for any hockey fan), he talks at length about how the day-to-day grind as a team that had everything to lose without the urge to win, yet all the pressure to do so. Yet, Dryden found a way to do so until he retired.
Shining star in a glorious tradition
The Canadiens have a long-standing history of dominance in the net. The Vezina Trophy itself is named after Hall of Fame Montreal goaltender Georges Vezina.
Later, Jacques Plante won six Stanley Cup championships. Patrick Roy won the Cup twice in Montreal but won the Conn Smythe Trophy a record three times. Carey Price never won the Cup, but, without question, was the most dominant goaltender of the 2010s decade, and in his prime was the best player in the league.
How stellar is the Montreal goaltending tradition? It’s so good that Tony Esposito and Rogie Vachon had to go to other NHL teams to build their Hall of Fame careers. Meanwhile, the Habs hardly felt their losses as the years went by.
Talk about an embarrassment of riches. Back in the days when NHL teams sponsored junior teams and laid claim to their players, the Canadiens had a near monopoly on Quebecois talent. The talent pool was so deep that there wasn’t enough room for all the stellar goalies. That’s how talents such as Hall of Famer Bernie Parent (who went to the Boston Bruins sponsored Niagara Falls Flyers) spilled over into other organizations’ feeder systems.
Dryden might not be the best of that group. It’s debatable. However, this is not up for debate: great goaltenders win games. In eight seasons, Dryden got the Canadiens to the top of the mountain six timpes.
Dryden retired on top
Dryden’s retirement came after the 1978-79 season, when the Canadiens and the star goaltender were on top with nothing left to prove. He was 31, an age when most goaltenders these days are in their primes, yet he did it all.
His retirement came as the curtain was starting to close on an era. The league was changing as expansion was in full force, dynasties were on the decline, the Canadiens weren’t a dominant force anymore (winning just two more Cups after his retirement), and Original Six supremacy was dwindling as he left the game.
Long after he retired, Dryden wanted to do something that many players do these days but he never experienced, spend a day with the Stanley Cup. He was granted that wish and made the most of those 24 hours. Dryden took the Cup to Domain, Manitoba, and then to Etobicoke, Ontario, the places where his father and he grew up. What stands out about that day is not the nostalgia but how Dryden let the fans, especially the kids, celebrate with the Cup. When it comes to hockey, the kids not only matter, they are the only thing that matters. They are the motor that keeps the game alive and keeps it going. Dryden understood that, and on his day with the Cup, he made sure to pass on that legacy.
