Dryden made his NHL debut on March 20, 1971, in a home game against his brother Dave Dryden, a fellow backup goaltender for Buffalo Sabres, when Canadiens starter Rogie Vachon suffered an injury; this still stands as the only time a pair of brothers faced against each other as goaltenders. He was called up from the minors late in the season and played only six regular-season games, but rang up an impressive 1.65 goals-against average. This earned him the starting goaltending job for the playoffs ahead of veteran Rogie Vachon, and he helped the Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup. He also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. He helped the Habs win five more Stanley Cups in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979.
The following year Dryden won the Calder Trophy as the rookie of the year; he was not eligible for it the previous year because he did not play enough regular-season games. He is the only player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy before winning the rookie of the year award, and the only goaltender to win both the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup 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.
Awards and honors:
| Award | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| All-ECAC First Team | 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 | |
| AHCA East All-American | 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 | |
| ECAC Hockey All-Tournament First Team | 1967, 1968, 1969 | |
| NCAA All-Tournament First Team | 1967 | |
| NCAA All-Tournament Second Team | 1968, 1969 | |
| Conn Smythe Trophy winner | 1971 | |
| Calder Memorial Trophy winner | 1972 | |
| Vezina Trophy winner | 1973, 1976, 1977*, 1978*, 1979* | |
| Stanley Cup champion | 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 | |
| Playing NHL All-Star Games. | 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 | |
| Selected to NHL First All-Star Team | 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979. | |
| Selected to NHL Second All-Star Team | 1972 | |
| Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame | 1983 | |
| Number 25 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players | 1998 | |
| Number 29 was retired by the Montreal Canadiens | January 29, 2007 | |
| His number 1 was retired by the Cornell Big Red | February 25, 2010 | |
| Recipient of the Order of Hockey in Canada | 2020 |
| 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 | SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 240 | 19 | 0 | 4.75 | |
| Senior totals | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 360 | 23 | 1 | 3.83 | |||
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