MONTREAL — The first time Ken Dryden walked into the Montreal Canadiens’ locker room in 1971, his teammates immediately knew he was different.

“We looked at him and we thought he was coming from another planet,” recalled his defenceman Serge Savard in an interview on Saturday.

“We didn’t see hockey players coming into the dressing room with books under their arms. After practice, he was going to McGill University.”

In fact, Savard remembers that at first, members of the team doubted Dryden, with all his other interests, would have a great future in hockey. But they were happy — and perhaps a bit astounded — to be proved so wrong.

Dryden won six Stanley Cups in eight seasons, five Vezina trophies as the league’s top goaltender and backstopped Canada past the Soviet Union in the monumental 1972 Summit Series, quickly becoming a beloved figure in Montreal.

“He was the best goaltender of his time,” Savard said.

But also much else — an author, a lawyer and a politician who retired from hockey in his early 30s.

“He did a lot of things, and every time after doing something, he would look at you and say, ‘What’s next?’ That’s Ken Dryden,” Savard said.

Dryden died Friday at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.

Savard, who grew closer to him in recent years at 1972 team reunions, was stunned when Dryden’s wife, Lynda, delivered the news Friday. She told him Dryden had lived with cancer for two years and had known for months he couldn’t be cured, but kept it private within his immediate family.

Other former Canadiens were equally blindsided.

“I had no idea he was even sick,” former defenceman Larry Robinson said. “I’m just … I’m dumbfounded. It’s a sad day, very sad day.”

Robinson, who spent years clearing the crease and blocking shots in front of Dryden, called him “a smart person, but great player.”

“Not only was he so graceful in the net, he’s a big guy and you think that he took up half the net,” Robinson recalled of the six-foot-four netminder. “He was so good that we just basically took him for granted sometimes. We wouldn’t play that well, and he would keep us in games.

“They would say how strong we were, but they forgot that Kenny kept us in the game for three quarters of the game.”

For sports writers accustomed to post-game monosyllabic and rote answers from athletes, Dryden was unique, becoming known as a dream and a nightmare for delivering thoughtful — yet long-winded — answers.

“Ken never spoke in single sentences. He never spoke in phrases. He never gave you a yes or a no answer,” said Dave Stubbs, a hockey historian and columnist at NHL.com. “You knew that what you were going to get from Ken was going to be very profound.

“Ken certainly had a very different take on the game of hockey and the game of life than anyone else I’ve ever known in professional sports.”

After his playing career, Dryden would go on to work as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs between 1997 and 2003 before embarking on a career in federal politics.

“Ken Dryden absolutely transcended the game of hockey,” Stubbs said. “Many professional hockey players, their lives are defined by hockey. Hockey was only a small part of Ken’s life. It was a great springboard into the other things that he did.”

Dryden put his thoughts on paper in “The Game,” widely regarded as one of the greatest sports books of all time, detailing life as a professional hockey player on the 1978-79 Canadiens.

“Ken was ahead of his time,” Savard said. “He was talking about climate change 50 years ago.”

Goaltending legends of the past and present who followed in Dryden’s footsteps delivered heartfelt tributes on Saturday.

Martin Brodeur, a Montreal-born Hall of Famer, said he “always looked up to Ken Dryden.”

“He revolutionized the position and rose to the occasion in big moments,” Brodeur wrote in a social media post with a photo of Dryden taken by his father. “Beyond his greatness on the ice, he was a remarkable person, and the hockey community will miss him dearly.”

Carey Price — the latest in the Canadiens’ lineage of star goalies, from Jacques Plante to Dryden to Patrick Roy — thanked him for his “service not only as a Canadien, but also as a Canadian.”

“With a heavy heart, I extend my deepest condolences to the Dryden family,” Price wrote on social media. “You helped me as a young goaltender and I will always be grateful for your thoughtful words of encouragement.”

A bouquet of flowers was placed by Dryden’s plaque outside the Bell Centre.

At Percival Molson Stadium, the Montreal Alouettes honoured him with a moment of silence before their CFL game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Dryden was born in Hamilton but grew up in Toronto’s Islington neighbourhood.

On nearby Sainte-Catherine Street, fans of all ages reflected on his legacy.

“He’s one the Canadiens’ great goalies,” said Tristan Dubé-Rioux, wearing a Canadiens sweater. “I remember especially his mask. I was sad he died, but I’m happy he played for the Canadiens.”

For 46-year-old Brandon Ferguson, the lasting image is Dryden resting his hands on top of his stick — a pose immortalized in the “The Goalie” statue outside Montreal’s Raymond-Bourque Arena.

“Leaning on the stick going, ‘Yeah, pucks down there, when it crosses the red line, I’ll be interested again,” Ferguson said at McLean’s pub on Peel Street. “A truly good Canadian, a sports icon that was always just a really thoughtful, intelligent individual.”

— With files from sports writer Michel Lamarche.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2025.