Ken Dryden

Ken Dryden

Ken Dryden (Kenneth Wayne Dryden) was born on August 8th, 1947. Ken passed away September 5th, 2025 at 78 years old. Ken Dryden was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dryden attended Cornell University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.

Ken Dryden was best known as a legendary author, politician, lawyer, and athlete, who played as a goaltender in professional ice hockey.

As a professional hockey player, he made his name playing for the Montreal Canadiens as a goaltender, where he blended intellectual pursuit with athletic excellence.

He was drafted in 1964 before being traded to Montreal, but he chose to play for the Big Red instead, where he won a national championship.

In 1971, he got into the NHL, where his analytical and calm playing style got him immediate results and praise. In his first year in the league, he was the playoff MVP as he won the Coon Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup.

Over his career, Ken Dryden was the winner of half a dozen Stanley Cups, played in the Summit Series in 1972, and was named to five NHL All-Star teams. At age 26, he unexpectedly announced his retirement, and in 1983, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After retiring from hockey, Ken Dryden became a lawyer, served in parliament for seven years, and even became Minister of Social Development. He also became an advocate for the importance of civil society, concussion awareness, and youth education.

In his work The Game, Ken Dryden writes a thought-provoking and reflective story of his life in hockey.

As a former Toronto Maple Leafs president and goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, he offers insights into the game. He paints portraits of influential figures in the game, such as Scotty Bowman, the coach, Serge Savard, Guy Lafleur, Guy Lapointe, and Larry Robinson.

Aside from all that, the author reflects on his life on the ice, in the spotlight, and on the road, as he provides rare insights into the hockey game.

In his first novel, The Moved and the Shaken, Ken and Dryden follow a middle-aged and middle-class Canadian man named Frank Bloye who makes his home in Scarborough.

Frank is employed at an oil company but has to deal with the ordinary challenges of fixing things at home, juggling money, doing yard work, and caring for a dyslexic daughter.

Through Frank, Dryden writes of the everyday life of ordinary Canadians, showing their quiet struggles, hopes, routines, and dreams.

In 2017, Ken Dryden went back to nonfiction with the work Game Change, in which he tells the story of NHL defenseman Steve Montador, who played for more than a decade between 2001 and 2012.

He tells of his history with CTE and concussions, and his brain autopsy. Steve dealt with brain damage, depression, addiction, and memory loss before he died at age 35.

According to Dryden, Steve was ruined by the NHL’s culture of a lack of safety rules, fighting, and fast pace. He argues that there should be a change in rules to protect the players, including banning hits to the head.

Ken Dryden: Lists & Other Mentions

• The Game was a Sports Illustrated: The Top 100 Sports Books of All Time Selection in 2002.

Related Authors

Fans of Ken Dryden also enjoy these authors:

1. Michael Crichton, author of the Jurassic Park Series.
2. Ken Follett, author of the Kingsbridge Series.
3. Tom Clancy, author of the Jack Ryan Universe.
4. Michael Lewis, author of: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.
5. John Scalzi, author of the Old Man's War Series.

Ken Dryden: F.A.Q