The Montreal Canadiens have had a long history of great hockey players, and more specifically, great goaltenders. Jacques Plante revolutionized the position with the mask, Carey Price won the most games in this uniform, but the best of all time might just be Ken Dryden, who sadly passed away on September 5th 2025.
Dryden had one of the most unique NHL careers of all time. He was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round in 1964, but was traded just days after to the Montreal Canadiens. Dryden didn't even know he was drafted by the Bruins until years later, and of the four players involved (Alex Campbell, Guy Allen and Paul Reid), Dryden was the only one to play a game.
Dryden stayed in school, attending Cornell and finishing a BA in history, and eventually made his NHL debut in 1971, 7 years after being drafted. But it was definitely worth the wait.
Dryden won each of his first six games in the regular season and won the starting job coming into the playoffs. In those playoffs, Dryden went 12-8 with a .914 save percentage, winning the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe trophy.
The next year, Dryden won the Calder Trophy after winning the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe the year before. But the team would be bounced in the first round.
And that was really the only blemish on a perfect NHL career. Dryden and the Canadiens would win the Stanley Cup in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. One year he didn't win the Stanley Cup, 1974, was because Dryden didn't play. There was a contract dispute, and Dryden went to pursue his law degree.
And from 1976 to 1979, Dryden and the Canadiens were borderline unbeatable during this time. During the 1976 playoffs, Dryden posted a 12-1 record. The next year, the Habs went 12-2. 1978? 12-3. And in his final year in the NHL, Dryden won the Stanley Cup, posting a 12-4 record.
Between school, more school and retiring early, Ken Dryden didn't play a lot in the NHL. He retired playing 397 games, and only lost 57 of those games. That means Dryden won 65% of his total regular-season games. That number jumps up to 71% in the playoffs.
If Dryden had played a full NHL career, who knows how many records he would have set or broken? But he had other things in store for life.
Dryden was an accomplished writer; his first book, The Game, became borderline required reading for any hockey fans. He wrote a novel The Moved and the Shaken, and three more non-fiction hockey books about Steve Montador, CTE and safety; a book about the life and career of NHL coach Scotty Bowman; and his final book about the 1972 Summit Series.
Later in life, Dryden was also a politician and won a House of Commons seat in York and was Minister of Social Development. He would remain in politics until he lost his seat in 2011.
From the nation's game to heading the nation itself, it's hard to pick a person who has had such a deep and wide impact on Canada. There isn't anyone who can match Ken Dryden now, and there never will be.