MONTREAL – The Canadiens paid tribute to a legend on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.
During the pregame ceremonies to mark the 2025-26 home opener, the team remembered goaltending legend Ken Dryden, who passed away in September at the age of 78 following a battle with cancer.
As part of the moving memorial, several of Dryden’s former teammates were present on the team bench for the ceremony: Pierre Bouchard, Yvan Cournoyer, Rejean Houle, Doug Jarvis, Yvon Lambert, Pierre Mondou, Doug Risebrough, Mario Tremblay, Murray Wilson, and Serge Savard. His mask was placed atop the net.
On the scoreboard, a touching video tribute began with the reading of Dryden’s poem, “The player,” by former captain and general manager Bob Gainey. The poem had been added to the end of Dryden’s book, The Game, in 2003—20 years after its original publication. Gainey’s narration of the poem was specially recorded for Tuesday’s tribute.
The video continued with photo and video highlights of Dryden’s incredible career and featured parts of his speech from the night of his jersey retirement ceremony in 2007.
Dryden was honored with an emotional ovation following the video.
A native of Hamilton, ON, Dryden played eight seasons for the Canadiens from 1970-1979. He won the Calder Trophy and the Conn Smythe Trophy, was a five-time recipient of the Vezina Trophy, and won six Stanley Cups with Montreal. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.
