Ken Dryden

Early life and education

Dryden was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1947. His parents were Murray Dryden (1911-2004) and Margaret Adelia Campbell (1912-1985). He has a sister, Judy, and is brother of Dave Dryden (b. 1941), also an NHL goaltender. Dryden was raised in Islington, Ontario (then just outside Toronto).

Dryden was drafted fourteenth overall by the Boston Bruins in the 1964 NHL Amateur Draft. Days later, June 28, Boston traded Dryden to the Montreal Canadiens, along with Alex Campbell, for Paul Reid and Guy Allen, whom the Bruins highly valued. Dryden was informed by his agent that he had been drafted by the Canadiens, but did not find out until the mid-1970s that he had originally been a Bruin.

Rather than play for the Canadiens in 1964, Dryden pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in History at Cornell University, where he also played hockey until his graduation in 1969. He backstopped the Cornell Big Red to the 1967 National Collegiate Athletic Association championship and to three consecutive ECAC tournament championships under coach Ned Harkness, winning 76 of his 81 varsity starts. At Cornell, he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society. He also was a member of the Canadian amateur national team at the 1969 World Ice Hockey Championships tournament in Stockholm.

Dryden took a break from the NHL for the 1973-74 season, articling for a Toronto law firm and earning a degree in Law at McGill University.

Dryden's #1 which he wore while playing for the Cornell Big Red was retired on February 25, 2010, along with Joe Nieuwendyk's number, and at the present these are the only two players to have their numbers retired by Cornell's hockey program.

Playing career

Originally drafted by the Bruins in the 1964 NHL Amateur Draft and immediately traded to the Canadiens, Dryden deferred his professional playing career to complete his bachelor's degree at Cornell. He made his NHL debut in 1971 for the Canadiens. Dryden played only six regular-season games after a late-season call-up but sporting a minuscule 1.65 goals-against average. This earned him the number 1 goalie job for the playoffs ahead of veteran All-Star Rogie Vachon, and the Canadiens rode their hot young goalie to win the Stanley Cup. He then became the backbone of 5 more Stanley Cup-winning teams in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. During that first playoff season, Dryden won the Conn Smythe Trophy (1971), as the playoffs' most valuable player.

The following year Dryden won the Calder Trophy, 1972, as the Rookie of the year because the previous year he did not play enough regular season games to become eligible. He remains the only NHL player to ever win the Conn Smythe Trophy before winning the rookie of the year award, and the only NHL goaltender to win both the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup trophies before losing a regular season game. In the autumn of 1972 Dryden played for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet national ice hockey team.

Dryden played from 1971 to 1979, except for the 1973–74 season, when he was unhappy about the contract that the Canadiens offered him, which he considered less than his market worth, given that he had won the Stanley Cup and Vezina Trophy. Ken announced on September 14, 1973 that would become a legal clerk at the Toronto law firm of Osler, Hoskins and Harcourt for the year, for a $135 a week salary. He then skipped training camp and held out that season, incurring the wrath of Canadiens General Manager Sam Pollock whose previous stars had usually signed for the amount that he had offered. The Canadiens still had a good season, going 45-24-9, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the New York Rangers in six games. The Canadiens allowed 56 more goals in the 1973–74 season than they had the year before with Dryden. Dryden used that year to fulfill the requirements for his law degree at McGill and article for a law firm. He retired following the 1978-79 season at age 31.

Compared to most other goaltending greats (and Hockey Hall of Fame players), Dryden's NHL career was extremely short: just over seven full seasons. Therefore, statistically he did not amass record totals in most categories. As he played all his years with a dynasty and retired before he could pass his prime, his statistical percentages are unparalleled. His regular season totals include a .790 winning percentage, a 2.24 goals against average, and, most incredibly, winning 258 games and losing only 57 games while recording 46 shutouts in just 397 NHL games. He won the Vezina Trophy five times as the top goaltender in the NHL and in the same years was selected as a First Team All-Star. Despite the comparative brevity of his career, in 1998, he was ranked number 25 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

Dryden was so tall, at 6 foot 4 inches (193 cm), that he was often seen during stoppages in play in what became his trademark pose: resting with his blocker propped up by his goalie stick which was angled to its maximum possible height. One of his nicknames was the "four-story goalie".

Dryden was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, his first year of eligibility. His #29 was retired by the Canadiens on January 29, 2007. He was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Writing

Dryden wrote one book during his hockey career: Face-Off at the Summit. This was written in diary form and outlined the Canadian experience in the famous Canada vs. Soviet Union series of 1972. The book has been out of print for many years. It is a fairly standard account, unlike The Game which frequently digresses into non-hockey related information.

After retiring from hockey Dryden wrote several more books. His book The Game (1983) was a commercial and critical success, being nominated for a Governor General's Award. His next book, Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada (1990), written with Roy MacGregor, was developed into an award-winning Canadian Broadcasting Corporation six-part documentary series for television. His fourth book was The moved and the shaken: The story of one man's life (1993). His fifth book, In School: Our Kids, Our Teachers, Our Classrooms (1995), written with Roy MacGregor, was about Canada’s educational system. Becoming Canada (2010) argued for a new definition of Canada and its unique place in the world.

Commentator

He served as Ontario's first Youth Commissioner from 1984 to 1986. Dryden worked as a television hockey commentator at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics. Dryden served as a colour commentator alongside play-by-play man Al Michaels for the American Broadcasting Company's coverage of the famous Miracle on Ice. Just seconds before Mike Eruzione's game-winning goal for the USA, Dryden expressed his concern that the U.S. was "relying a little too much on [goaltender] Jim Craig" after Craig had just made a series of great saves.

Sports executive

Minority owner Larry Tanenbaum hired Dryden to become the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club in 1997. Pat Quinn became head coach in 1998, and the two men reportedly had a frosty relationship. A few months after joining the Leafs, Quinn took on the General Manager position, reportedly to preempt Dryden from hiring his preferred GM which was former Habs teammate Bob Gainey.

On August 29, 2003, with the hiring of John Ferguson, Jr. as GM, there was a major management shakeup. Majority owner Steve Stavro was bought out by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and he stepped down as chairman in favour of Larry Tanenbaum. Quinn continued as head coach but was relieved of GM duties. Dryden's position was abolished, in favour of having both the Leafs and Raptors managers reporting directly to MLSE President and CEO Richard Peddie. Dryden was shuffled to the less important role of vice-chairman and given a spot on MLSE's board of directors, which was described by commentators as "sitting outside the loop" as he did not report directly to Leafs ownership. He stayed on until 2004 when he resigned to enter politics.

Teaching

From January 2012 to present, Dryden has been a "Special Visitor" at his alma mater McGill University's Institute for the Study of Canada. He teaches a Canadian Studies course entitled "Thinking the Future to Make the Future", which focuses on issues facing Canada in the future and possible solutions to them.

Political career

Dryden joined the Liberal Party of Canada and ran for the House of Commons in the federal election held in June 2004. Dryden had been selected by Prime Minister Paul Martin as a "star candidate" in what is considered a safe Liberal riding. Earlier, on May 13, 2004, incumbent Art Eggleton announced that he would not run for re-election (Eggleton would be appointed to the Canadian Senate on March 24, 2005), paving the way for Dryden to contest the Toronto riding of York Centre.

Dryden was elected to Parliament by a margin of over 11,000 votes. He was named to Cabinet as Minister of Social Development. He made headlines on February 16, 2005, as the target of a remark by Conservative Member of Parliament Rona Ambrose who said about Dryden, "working women want to make their own choices, we don't need old white guys telling us what to do." Ambrose made the remarks after Dryden commented on a poll that analyzed child care choices by Canadian families. Dryden won generally favourable reviews for his performance in Cabinet.

Dryden was re-elected in the 2006 federal election, however the Liberals were defeated and Paul Martin resigned the party leadership. Interim party and opposition leader Bill Graham named Dryden to his shadow cabinet as health critic.

York Centre was traditionally one of the safest Liberal constituencies, but Dryden's margin of victory dwindled in the 2006 and 2008 elections. By the 2011 federal election, Dryden focused his efforts on his riding instead of campaigning for other candidates as he did in past elections, and his campaign also received a visit from former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. However, Dryden lost his seat to Mark Adler who garnered 17,613 votes (49.3 percent) to Dryden's 11,712 votes (32.8 percent).

Leadership bid

On April 28, 2006, Dryden confirmed rumours that he would run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, which would be choosing a successor to Paul Martin at a convention in Montreal on December 2, 2006.

A poll found that Dryden's potential pool of support exceeded that of his opponents, due mainly to his former NHL career. However, his fundraising efforts left him well behind the top tier of leadership contenders (Michael Ignatieff, Gerard Kennedy, Stéphane Dion and Bob Rae). A variety of media pundits criticized Dryden's ponderous speaking style and limited French. Supporters argued that few people were strongly opposed to him and that if he ran he could attract more support on later ballots as a consensus candidate.

Despite initially being a high-profile candidate for leadership, his organizational results were disappointing, placing him in the bottom rank of remaining candidates. Dryden came in 5th place on the first ballot with 238 delegates 4.9% of the vote. On the second ballot, he came in last place with 219 votes (4.7%) and was eliminated. He initially threw his support to Bob Rae, but after Rae was eliminated in the third ballot and released all of his delegates, Dryden endorsed Stéphane Dion, who went on to win the leadership.

According to Elections Canada filings, as of 2013 Dryden's campaign still owed $225,000.

Personal life

Dryden and his wife Lynda have two children and four grandchildren.

Ken and his brother are first cousins, twice removed, to the late John Murray Murdoch. Murray's mother was Jane "Jennie" Bell Murray (1878-1980) and his father was Walter Murdoch (1875- ). Walter's half sister, Margaret "Maggie" Murdoch (1855-1926) married Andrew Dryden (1849-1922) and their son William Dryden (1881-1956) and his wife Amy Timlick (1884-1961) were Ken and David's grandparents.

Awards and honors

Dryden has received doctoral degrees from nine universities including University of Ottawa, Saint Mary’s University and University of Winnipeg. His hockey awards and honours are numerous and include:

* Shared with Michel Larocque.

International

"Dryden's stats". The Goaltender Home Page. Retrieved 2017-08-07.