Ken Dryden

The Honourable Kenneth Wayne Dryden PC
Member of the Canadian Parliament for York Centre
In office 2004 – 2011
Preceded by	Art Eggleton
Succeeded by	Mark Adler
Personal details
Born	August 8, 1947 (1947-08-08) (age 64) Hamilton, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Lynda Dryden
Residence	Toronto, Ontario
Profession	Executive manager, lawyer, professional hockey player, writer

Ken Dryden
Born	August 8, 1947 (1947-08-08) (age 64) Hamilton, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight	207 lb (94 kg; 14 st 11 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Caught	Left
Played for	AHL Montreal Voyageurs NHL Montreal Canadiens
National team	Canada
NHL Draft	14th overall, 1964 Boston Bruins
Playing career	1970–1979
Hall of Fame, 1983

Kenneth Wayne Dryden, PC, (born August 8, 1947) is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former NHL goaltender. Dryden is married with two children and four grandchildren and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 until losing his seat in the 2011 Canadian federal elections to Conservative Mark Adler.

Early life and hockey career

Dryden was born in Hamilton, Ontario,^[1] the son of Murray and Margaret Dryden and brother of Dave Dryden, also an NHL goaltender. Dryden was raised in Islington (then just outside Toronto) and drafted fourteenth overall by the Boston Bruins in the 1964 NHL Amateur Draft. Later the same day, 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, and did not find out he had originally been a Bruin until the mid-1970s.^[2]

Rather than play in Montreal, Dryden pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University, where he also played hockey until his graduation in 1969. At Cornell, Dryden led his team, the Cornell Big Red, to the 1967 National Collegiate Athletic Association championship and three consecutive ECAC tournament championships under coach Ned Harkness, a legendary coach of hockey and lacrosse, winning 76 of his 81 varsity starts (76-4-1) after being required to play his first year on the freshman team,.^[3] He also was a member of the Canadian amateur national team at the 1969 Ice Hockey World Championship tournament in Stockholm.

Dryden made his NHL debut in 1971 for the Canadiens, playing 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. 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. He 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.^[4] 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. No other modern goaltender has ever been even remotely close to earning nearly as many shutouts as recording losing games. He won the Vezina Trophy five times for allowing the fewest goals 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 #29 was retired by the Canadiens on January 29, 2007, and his #1 which he wore while playing for the Cornell Big Red was retired on February 25, 2010, making him one of only two players to have his number retired by Cornell's hockey program (the other player, Joe Nieuwendyk, had his number retired with Dryden).^[5]

Education

Dryden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Cornell University's Department of History and a degree in Law at McGill University. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Ottawa, University of Windsor, York University, McMaster University, Saint Mary’s University, Niagara University and University of British Columbia. At Cornell, he was a member of the Sigma Phi Society and vice-president of the Quill and Dagger society.

Writing career

Book cover of The Game

Dryden wrote one little-known 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 is difficult to find and long out of print. It is a fairly standard account, unlike The Game which frequently digresses into non-hockey related information.

After retiring from hockey Dryden became a dedicated author for a time. His book The Game (1983, ISBN 0-470-83355-6) 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, ISBN 0-7710-2872-5), 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, ISBN 0-670-82170-5 ). His fifth book, In School: Our Kids, Our Teachers, Our Classrooms (1995, ISBN 0-7710-2869-5), written with Roy MacGregor, was about Canada’s education system. His sixth book was Becoming Canada (2010, ISBN 0-7710-2946-2) 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 has just made a series of great saves.

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.^[4]

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.^[4][6] He stayed on until 2004 when he resigned to enter politics.

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, paving the way for Dryden to contest the Toronto riding of York Centre. Eggleton, who was later appointed to the Senate, denied that the party asked him to step aside.^[7]

While campaigning, a letter sent to Dryden by Ya'acov Brosh, Consul-General of Israel in Toronto was put in Dryden's campaign literature, allegedly without Brosh's permission.^[8] Brosh worried that the letter would be misconstrued as political interference. The Consul-General did give permission to "circulate" the letter but insisted that it was not intended to be any kind of endorsement. The letter was sent to Dryden thanking him for his participation in a ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Dryden was elected to Parliament and 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." Dryden won generally favourable reviews for his performance in Cabinet.

On November 5, 2005, Dryden as Minister of Social Development obtained early-learning and child care deals with all 10 provinces.^[9] He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election. 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. Dryden lost his seat in the 2011 Canadian federal elections to Mark Adler.

Leadership bid

Further information: Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 2006

On April 28, 2006, Dryden confirmed rumours^[10] 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 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.

A poll^[11] 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). Despite initially being a very high profile candidate for leadership, his organizational efforts were disappointing, placing him in the bottom rank of remaining candidates. After gaining less than 5% of first round ballots for the Liberal leadership, Dryden was one of the "bottom four" candidates that had been written off by the media as unlikely to win the Liberal leadership.

In an interview with the Toronto Star on November 13, 2006, Dryden expressed concern that United States Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean should not be speaking at the Liberal Party of Canada's national convention in Montreal on November 29 out of fear that a foreigner would put the party out of touch with most Canadians.^[12]

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 went over to Stéphane Dion, who went on to win the leadership.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

• Face-Off at the Summit (1973)
• The Game (1983)
• Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada (with Roy MacGregor, 1990)
• In School: Our Kids, Our Teachers, Our Classrooms (with Roy MacGregor, 1995)
• The Moved and the Shaken (1993)
• Becoming Canada (2010)

Awards and achievements

• Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1971.
• Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 1972.
• Vezina Trophy winner in 1973, 1976, 1977*, 1978*, 1979*.
• Stanley Cup champion in 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979.
• Played in 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 NHL All-Star Games.
• Selected to NHL First All-Star Team in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979.
• Selected to NHL Second All-Star Team in 1972.
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 25 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
• His number 29 was retired by the Montreal Canadiens on January 29, 2007.
• His number 1 was retired by the Cornell Big Red on February 25, 2010 making him one of only two players to have his number retired by the Cornell hockey program, the other being Joe Nieuwendyk.

* Shared with Michel Larocque.

Career statistics

Regular season

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA
1963–64	Humber Valley Packers	MTHL		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1964–65	Etobicoke Indians	MetJHL		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1965–66	Cornell Big Red	ECAC		Did not play (NCAA redshirt)
1966–67	Cornell Big Red	ECAC		27	26	0	1	1646	77	4	1.46
1967–68	Cornell Big Red	ECAC		29	25	2	0	1620	23	6	1.52
1968–69	Cornell Big Red	ECAC		27	25	2	0	1578	147	3	1.79
1970–71	Montreal Voyageurs	AHL		33	16	7	8	1899	84	3	2.68
1970–71	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		6	6	0	0	327	9	0	1.65
1971–72	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		64	39	8	15	3800	142	8	2.24
1972–73	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		54	33	7	13	3165	119	6	2.26
1974–75	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		41	22	10	8	2363	129	4	3.28
1975–76	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		62	42	10	8	3580	121	8	2.03
1976–77	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		56	41	6	8	3275	117	10	2.14
1977–78	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		52	37	7	7	3071	105	5	2.05
1978–79	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		47	30	10	7	2814	108	5	2.30
NHL totals				397	258	57	74	25,251	954	46	2.24

Playoffs

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	MIN	GA	SO	GAA
1970–71	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		20	12	8	1221	61	0	3.00
1971–72	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		6	2	4	360	17	0	2.83
1972–73	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		17	12	5	1039	50	1	2.89
1974–75	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		11	6	5	688	29	2	2.53
1975–76	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		13	12	1	780	25	1	1.92
1976–77	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		14	12	2	849	22	4	1.55
1977–78	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		15	12	3	919	29	2	1.89
1978–79	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		16	12	4	990	41	0	2.48
NHL totals				112	80	32	6846	274	10	2.40

International

Year	Team	Event			GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA
1969	Canada	WC			2	1	1	0	120	4	1	2.00
1972	Canada	Summit-72			4	2	2	0	240	19	0	4.75
1979	NHL All-Stars	Ch-Cup			2	1	1	0	120	7	0	3.50
Senior int'l totals					8	4	4	0	480	30	1	3.75

References

1. ^ Cole, Stephen (2006). The Canadian Hockey Atlas. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-66093-8 (0-385-66093-6). 
2. ^ Canadiens blog English translation of Canoe article
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.athletics.mcgill.ca/alumni_news_details.ch2?article_id=454
5. ^ Big Red to retire Dryden, Nieuwendyk's hockey numbers - February 25, 2010
6. ^ http://www.athletics.mcgill.ca/alumni_news_details.ch2?article_id=453
7. ^ "Eggleton out, will Dryden replace him?". CBC News. May 14, 2004. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/05/13/eggleton040513.html. 
8. ^ Jewish Tribune article about Dryden election brochure
9. ^ Dryden achieves 10 child care agreements
10. ^ "And then there were 10 ... Ken Dryden is in". CBC News. April 28, 2006. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/04/28/dryden-leadership.html. 
11. ^ September 2006 poll
12. ^ "Canadians 'Appalled' By Howard Dean"

External links

• Ken Dryden's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Ken Dryden's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Ken Dryden's homepage
• Ken Dryden at the Internet Movie Database
• How'd They Vote?: Ken Dryden's voting history and quotes
• Ken Dryden - Parliament of Canada biography

27th Ministry – Cabinet of Paul Martin
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
legislation enacted	Minister of Social Development 2005–2006	position vacant
Liza Frulla	Minister of Human Resources Development 2004–2005 styled as Minister of Social Development	legislation enacted
Sporting positions
Preceded by Gilbert Perreault	Winner of the Calder Trophy 1972	Succeeded by Steve Vickers
Preceded by Bobby Orr	Winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy 1971	Succeeded by Bobby Orr
Preceded by Tony Esposito	Winner of the Vezina Trophy 1973	Succeeded by Tony Esposito and Bernie Parent (tied)
Preceded by Bernie Parent	Winner of the Vezina Trophy with Michel Larocque (1977, 1978, 1979) 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979	Succeeded by Don Edwards and Bob Sauvé
Preceded by Bob Pulford	NHLPA President 1972–74	Succeeded by Pit Martin
Preceded by Cliff Fletcher	General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs 1997–99	Succeeded by Pat Quinn