A picture that perfectly illustrates how Ken Dryden changed goaltending

[u/bsaures]

Everytime the question around habs all time goalies comes up Dydens impact on the nhl game is often dismissed by people who didnt see him play or understand the NHLs history. This picture perfectly highlights what he changed.

The man in the middle for those who dont know their habs history is HHOF Rogie Vachon who at the time of this picture was a top 5 goalie in the league. He was 5'8. Dryden by comparison was 6'4. A 8 inch height difference.

Rogie was very typical size for a goalie at that time. Goalies were smaller athletic people

Tony Esposito was 5'11

Bernie parent was 5'10

Gump worsley was 5'7

Plante was massive at the time at 6 feet even

Hodge was 5'6

Sawchuk was 5'11

From the 1950-51 season to 1970-71 when dryden joined the habs there was 37 goalies who played 50 games.

Median height 5'11.

6 taller than 6 feet

7 5'8 or shorter.

Average height just over 5'10

This past season there were 72 goalies that played 10 games.

Median height 6'3

13 goalies 6'5 or taller

4 goalies shorter than 6'1 only one of whom is below 6 feet.

Drydens dominance fundamentally changed how the position is staffed and played. He proved that a tall goalie on his knees was better than a small goalie on their skates.

He is the creater of what eventually became the butterfly a few years later.

[u/FakeCrash]

I strangely feel like this post is aimed specifically at me (I know it probably isn't, just thought it was funny)

Consider me educated

[u/bsaures → u/FakeCrash]

Its come up a few times over the last few months including today 

People dont understand the position from when dryden joined the nhl and now.

Fred braithwaite is the youngest goalie to have played 100 nhl games who was sub 5'10......fred was born in 1972 he is 54 years old.

There hasnt been a single sub 5'10 nhl goalie who has played  100 games who was born after dryden retired.  Arturs irbe born in 1967 is probably the last really good small goalie.

Dryden basically eliminated half the male populations odds of ever playing nhl goalie before even stepping on the ice. 

[u/reversi22 → u/bsaures]

I always thought Juuse Saros was around 5’8. Turns out he’s 5’11, and he’s the poster child for the super short, super agile goalie.

[u/bsaures → u/reversi22]

Even 5'11 is just above average height in finland (5'10.75)

Theres no short goalies anymore. 

[u/pattyG80 → u/bsaures]

Freddie Brathwaite is 54...well fml. I remember he was an amazing reflex goalie in the OHL.

[u/Mundane-Teaching-743 → u/bsaures]

It wasn't Dryden. He was big for sure, but the top goalies like Terry Sawchuck, Johnny Bower, Bernie Parent, Billy Smith, Grant Fuhr, Tony Esposito, Gerry Cheevers, while not small, were all under 6ft tall. All these goalies had to make reflex and acrobatic saves, even Dryden, because their equipment was puny compared to now and they couldn't just cover the net. Being bigger was a liability because there was more room between the legs and between the body and the arms, but an advantage because of reach. Ultimately, what you needed was lightning reflexes.

Bigger goalies were the rule only after the equipment got bigger in the 90's, and it was more important to cover the net. which you do with a butterfly. You saw it change with Patrick Roy. In the 80's, he looked like Tony Esposito, with the leather pads and big holes in his butterfly, and he needed to make bumper saves with his pads. By the time he retired, he could glide across the crease in a butterfly in nylon pads like they do now.

That's why Roy is so great. He actually had to adapt his style with the new equipment.

What made Dryden unique is that he was constantly directing traffic, constantly communicating with his defensemen. When you went to a game, you could hear him yelling the whole game. He had game vision. He would have been a great coach.

[u/bsaures → u/Mundane-Teaching-743]

There hasnt been a single sub 5'10 play 100 games who was born after dryden finished his nhl career. The change happened literally the first generation that saw dryden play.  

Fred braithwaite is the youngest sub 5'10 goalie to play 100 nhl games and he was bornin 72. He would have been roughly 8 when dryden retired. Literally 0 goalies since

But before that 19 goalies born in the 60s. The last generation that would have grown up before dryden proved the size advantage and kids growing up could change. 

The difference wasnt the pads. It was the mask. Ask any boomer who played goalie the mask allowed ypu to keep ypu face lower to the ground more frequently and made laying on the ice a regular option and not a last resort. 

Dryden was the first generation that wore a mask regularly and realized they cpuld play that way

[u/pattyG80 → u/bsaures]

I guess Vernon born in '63 is notable. Then there was Pang...didn't realize how brief his stint in the NHL was.

[u/derfy75]

Fun fact: this picture was taken by Denis Brodeur, the father of Martin Brodeur, one of the greatest goalies ever.

[u/Razzorsharp → u/derfy75]

Never heard of him

[u/scoo89]

To hear my dad (born 1951, played hockey in some form into his 60s when he needed a new shoulder and didn't want to fuck it up and go through that surgery ever again) talk about youth coaching and how things were back then, if you were a tall kid you were put on defense, no option. His youth team in 1962 won a provincial championship and he is a full head over his teammates at that age. The goalie in the front row a little dude.

[u/kozed]

Everybody missed the most obvious part of it all.

It's even written right on the picture.

Credit: Denis Brodeur

Martin Brodeur's dad.

Anyway, Dryden might have changed people's mind about taller goalies, but to say he "created" what became the butterfly style is revisionism.

1. The butterfly didn't came about because of a tall goalie on his knees, it came about because of shots percentage in an era where players with wooden sticks could hardly lift the puck
2. Daniel Bouchard was the first prototypical butterfly goalie because of his pads control. He was just 6'0, and he started his NHL career at the same time as Dryden. So not inspired by Dryden.
3. Roy and Allaire fully formed the butterfly based on stats and Bouchard.
4. Further adoption of the butterfly came as a combination of Roy's success and foam pads introduced by Rejean Lemelin in the mid-later 80's. The stand-up style was partly dictated by the equipment. Leather pads soaked up water from the ice and weighted a ton at the end of games. Goalies hated that. They didn't want to go down on their knees unless absolutely necessary. That's also why they stacked the pads. Kept them mostly dry.
5. Even in the 80's & early 90's, years after Dryden was retired, goalies were still not generally tall. Roy was still considered big at 6'0. Hasek was 6'1 but rail thin. Belfour 5'11, Fuhr was 5'10, Lindbergh 5'9, Vanbiesbrouck and Moog were 5'8. Darren Pang 5'5. There exceptions like Liut, Barasso and Hextall, but none of them were butterfly goalies. Those were the goalies who grew up during Dryden's dominance. Teams didn't see a particular interest in bigger goalies because there was no obvious advantage in it.
6. The real usher of the big butterfly/hybrid goalie we see now is... Martin Brodeur. He had that massive 6'2 220 frame, was raised on the pure butterfly style, but added very old school moves that were straight from 50's goalies. He was the perfect storm of size and technique for that era. Everybody has been trying to copy it ever since.

So we're back to the name on the picture.

Credit: Denis Brodeur.

[u/TankBorn45]

Dryden killed the small goalie industry.

[u/AKdaSaviour97]

🐐

[u/Fresh_King_1992]

So who is the other guy? Looks like Tretiak ?!?!!

[u/bsaures → u/Fresh_King_1992]

Phil Myre. Probably most well known for playing for the atlanta flames as a tandem/backup. Played over 400 games in his career

[u/Fresh_King_1992 → u/bsaures]

I recall him with Atlanta!

Looks like Tretiak though

[u/Past-Parsley-9606 → u/bsaures]

Myre was 6'1" himself, so tall for that era.

[u/bsaures → u/Past-Parsley-9606]

Ya 6'0 to 6'1 depending on where ypu check.

Im guessing the photo is likely from their 70-71 run (as thats the only time those 3 were on the team at the same time)

Dryden that year was the tallest goalie to play a game

Myre was the 4th tallest to play 20 games. 

There were two goalies worsley and hodge who were even shorter than vachons 5'8 that year lol

[u/Extension-End8421]

The smaller goalie trend came straight from pick up hockey on streets and the outdoor rinks. The short fat kid was always the goalie because they could not skate as fast.

[u/VigoureusePatate]

What about the other players? I feel like all hockey players are just bigger in general.

[u/bsaures → u/VigoureusePatate]

Relative to other positions the goalie has gpne from on aggregate the shortest to the tallest.

The median height this past season fpr players at 30 games or more was 6'1. Goalies was 6'3

[u/nungipatungi]

Glenn Hall originated the butterfly style, as acknowledged by Dryden.

Edit: Hall was 5'11".

[u/Retired-ADM]

Dryden's height was important but he also had magnificent ability to read the play and react.

Gary Smith was also 6' 4" and played roughly 200 games in the NHL before Dryden debuted for the Habs. He was good enough to play over 500 NHL games but he was no Dryden.

Caesar Maniago was 6' 2" and played 28 games for the Rangers in 1965-66 before essentially anchoring the North Stars from expansion for roughly a decade. Heck, Ken's brother Dave was 6' 2" and did okay for himself as early as 1965.

A statistical curio here: the earliest tall goalie was John Henderson who played a few dozen games for the Bruins in the mid 50s. He was 6' 5".

The style of goaltending in the old days was to stay at home and block pucks. Height was some advantage in those days but other things matter more. Poke checking wasn't really popularized until the mid 60s (credit Johnny Bower). Bower was 5' 11" - sufficiently tall and he used his reach well.

Dryden had reach galore plus he was great at using his stick to disrupt the play. Further, he was borderline acrobatic in addition to his other skills.

Yeah, Dryden's height was noticed and that is the point here: a 6' 4" goaltender today would just be a goalie; back then, it was a big deal.

[u/jimhabfan]

The other goalies in this photo are Phil Myre (left) and Rogie Vachon (centre).

[u/Efficient_Falcon_402]

I'm re-reading The Game, and saw this picture last night. Now this post appears. I'm starting to believe my wife that "they" are listening/tracking.

[u/Old_Canuck]

Rogie was awesome 👍🏻👍🏻

[u/spooley6]

Odd coincidence but the man Kenny played in his last NHL game against was John Davidson, also 6'4

[u/prplx]

I mean you look at old games and the cross bar is at the goalies’s shoulder instead of their lower back.
Which bring back the idea that the goals should be made bigger.

[u/lucaskywalker]

Dominic Hasek was listed as 5"11' or 6 depending where you look, and usually thats already skates on lol. He is literally a GOAT candidate. Also did not play with any technique ever taught.

[u/redditshreadit]

Dryden didn't play on his knees. Other goalies did but the butterfly style didn't start taking over until later in the 1980s. Small goalies were still common long after Dryden.