NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 6, 2025
Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden passes away at 78, the Canadiens trade Carey Price’s contract to the Sharks, the Flames sign Connor Zary, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Former Montreal Canadiens goaltender and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden died on Friday at age 78 after battling cancer.
Dryden’s NHL career spanned eight seasons (1970-71 to 1978-79), all of them with the Montreal Canadiens. He backstopped them to six Stanley Cups, including four in a row from 1975-76 to 1978-79, with a regular-season record of 258 wins, 57 losses and 74 losses, a 2.24 goals-against average, a save percentage of .922, and 46 shutouts. He won 80 of 112 playoff games, with a 2.41 GAA, an SP of .915, and 10 shutouts.
Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden.
The Canadiens legend became the first player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP (1971) before winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year (1971-72). He was a five-time winner of the Vezina Trophy, and played for Team Canada against the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series, playing in the eighth and deciding game.
Dryden retired in 1979. He became the TV analyst for ABC Sports during its coverage of the 1980 Winter Olympics, including the “Miracle on Ice” when Team USA upset the heavily favored Soviet Union. He was a bestselling author of multiple books, including 1983’s “The Game”, considered by many critics as the best book ever written about hockey. He was team president of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1997-98 to 2002-03, and a member of Canada’s parliament from 2004 to 2011. Dryden was also a tireless advocate for player safety at every level of hockey.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I first began watching hockey in 1970, and like every little kid back then, Boston Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr was my favorite player. That changed in 1971 after watching Dryden and the Canadiens upset Orr and the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins in the 1971 quarterfinals.
Dryden stood out for more than his goaltending. He was a big man (6’3”, 207 pounds) playing a position dominated by smaller players at that time. He was also a thoughtful, articulate person who didn’t speak in cliches like other players during interviews.
In an era when most NHL players hadn’t completed high school, Dryden finished his law degree during his playing career. He wore glasses away from the rink, which inspired someone like me (who has worn glasses since I was 10 years old) that “nerds” could play sports and do it well.
I didn’t know that Dryden had cancer, which makes his death such a shock for me. I never met him, but he still inspired me with his play, his books, his love of hockey and of Canada, and his compassion. He meant so much to me when I was growing up, and I admired his accomplishments following his playing career.
Hockey never saw anyone like Ken Dryden before, and we haven’t seen anyone like him since. I doubt we ever will again.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW/SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: The Canadiens traded the contract of Carey Price and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for minor-league defenseman Gannon Laroque.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This move clears the final season of Price’s contract (and its $10.5 million average annual value) from the Canadiens’ books, putting them under the $95.5 million salary cap by $4.568 million. That gives them invaluable cap space to put toward addressing their need for a second-line center at some point before the 2026 trade deadline.
It officially marks the end of an era for the Canadiens. Price had been with the organization since they chose him fifth overall in the 2005 NHL Draft, going on to become one of the greatest goaltenders in franchise history, setting the club record for most wins with 361. In 2015, he became the first goalie in NHL history to win the Hart Memorial Trophy, Vezina Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and the William M. Jennings Trophy in the same season. Price has been on permanent long-term injury reserve since 2022, effectively ending his playing career.
As for the Sharks, adding Price’s cap hit ensures they remain above the $70.6 million salary-cap minimum if the rebuilding club should move veteran players before the 2026 trade deadline. Price’s actual salary is $7.5 million, of which $5.5 million was paid as a signing bonus by the Canadiens on Sept. 1. Most of the remaining $2 million will be covered by insurance, making this a very affordable one-year addition to the Sharks’ payroll.
Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports the Sharks could have another move up their sleeve. They have 49 of the maximum 50 allowed NHL contracts, meaning they might have to make another trade if they intend to add promising prospects Sam Dickinson and Michael Misa to their roster this season.
CALGARY SUN: The Flames signed forward Connor Zary to a three-year contract on Friday. The average annual value is $3.775 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Zary was their only remaining unsigned player. It was expected that he would sign an affordable bridge contract. The 23-year-old forward was a restricted free agent coming off his entry-level contract and has yet to establish himself as a reliable top-six forward.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: The Devils signed forwards Kevin Rooney and Luke Glendening and goaltenders Adam Scheel and Georgi Romanov to professional tryout offers (PTO).
TSN: The Minnesota Wild signed forward Brett Leason to a PTO.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: W. Graeme Rouston, the owner and publisher of The Hockey News, signed a definitive agreement earlier this week to acquire True Hockey from True Temper Sports Inc.
True Hockey is the manufacturer of high-performance hockey equipment. Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, Vegas Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner, and Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk are among several notable NHL players sporting their gear.
Ken Dryden was one of the classiest men to ever play in the NHL. Remember seeing him playing at Cornell with his popular stance of folding his hands and leaning on the knob of his hockey stick. A renaissance figure to be sure.
A sad and unwelcome surprise to hear hockey and Canada have lost Ken Dryden. Nicely written Lyle.
Condolences out to the Dryden family and the entire Habs family.
I didn’t get to see him play as I didn’t start watching hockey until the Isles dynasty; but reading Lyle’s post and seeing tributes on-line; he must have been a great player and lead an inspirational and great life post hockey
May he Rest in Peace
Our age tends to influence our feelings of who GOATS are and for me it was Ken Dryden.
Class and excellence on and off the ice.
Quite the day in Montreal, the passing of Ken Dryden and the trade of Carey Price, two legendary goalies of the franchise.
Rip. One of the all time great players
Re Price flip:
Hughes just took Greir out to the woodshed and had Greir cut his own switchin’ stick on route.
Grier just paid somewhere between $400 K and $800 K; PLUS an asset (albeit likely a career AHLer; maybe even an ECHLer); AND did Hughes a massive solid; MASSIVE solid.
All that, just to get a 5th rounder in return. !?!?!?!?
That 5th, per link below, gives Sharks a 15% chance at a journeyman NHLer
https://dobberprospects.com/2020/05/16/nhl-draft-pick-probabilities/amp/
And that player wouldn’t be in the NHL (if at all ever) until likely ‘29/‘30
This move (for Sharks) was only about the remote possibility of maybe dropping below Cap floor ;
and to get there (below cap floor) they’d have had to make multiple in-year trades with vets, at high Cap, with zero/little Cap in return; all happening in 25/26 when in-year trades (due to this weeks New CBA changes) will happen only on very rare occasions.
Dubas, strike now while Grier is reeling, catching his breath, and completely disoriented.
With yesterday’s move; Grier must be ready to flip Celibrini for EK straight up. Crap, throw him a 5th to make him feel better. He must like 5ths!
A rabid Habs fan back then, one word always jumps to mind when I think of Ken Dryden’s totally unexpected and sudden rise to prominence in that 1971 series – unflappable.
His calm demeanor, leaning on his stick as the lines changed after a furious Boston charge, waiting for the next face-off, did more to infuse the team with rising confidence than anything else, and was THE primary reason they eventually won.
Small wonder he won the Conn Smythe Award.
Rest In Peace Mr. Dryden!
Question out to some of the more “seasoned” posters here: George, Sr et al
On most of the tributes for Dryden it says he was drafted in ‘64. He’d have been 18?
I thought the for the drafts in the 60’s and early 70’s you had to be 20; then it dropped to 19 in the mid 70’s(?); and then to the current 18 (by mid September of pkayers’ draft year) sometime in late 70’s or early 80’s.
Do the articles have his draft year wrong ;?; OR was there an early on phase of drafts AT 18 years of age; then later 60’s changed to 20 years old?
How old was Bobby Orr when he was drafted?
The articles also say Dryden was drafted by Bruins. They’d have had Orr AND Dryden!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Dryden
Thanks George
Yes, I’d already read that Wikipedia blurb and other posts/columns confirming when he was drafted and his year of birth as ‘46
My question was more wrt draft age
I thought it was 20 (in 60’s , early 70’s); then lowered to 19 in mid 70’s; then to 18 as it stands now
I was a fan of Isles (pre Mario of course) when I first started watching hockey
Harris (one of the Isles stars) was apparently 20 1/2 when selected 1st OA in ‘72
Looking up that draft, every player on it seems to be born in ‘52 (so 20 in their draft year)
So if Dryden was drafted at 18, then there must have been a point in the 60’s where it change to 20
Do you know when that was; and why they did it?
Again, I put the question to Google’s AI and got this
“Before 1974:
The age limit for the NHL draft was 20 years old.
1974:
The NHL lowered the draft age to 18 in order to compete with the WHA, which was signing players at any age.
1980:
The NHL Entry Draft eligibility expanded to include players from the WHA, and the draft age was established to be 18-20 for North American players.
Present Day:
North American players are eligible if they are 18 or older by September 15th of the draft year and are not older than 20 before December 31st of the draft year.”
But to your point about Dryden’s age when drafted by Boston, I then Googled the question “if the NHL draft age before 1974 was 20 how did Boston manage to draft Ken Dryden at age 18” and got this:
“The Boston Bruins didn’t draft Ken Dryden at 18 for the NHL in the way you’re thinking; they drafted him at age 16 in the 1964 NHL Amateur Draft, before his college years at Cornell, and then traded him to the Montreal Canadiens. The notion that the draft age was 20 before 1974 is also inaccurate, as the age limit was 20 for players not already on sponsorship lists, but Dryden was not a senior by that criteria.”
If you can decipher that, let me know 🙂
Thanks George
One of the main reasons I don’t trust Google’s AI is the consistent errors it gives
As you’ve put above , it shows “ Before 1974:
The age limit for the NHL draft was 20 years old.”
And we know that info to be completely invalid as Dryden (and I’d hazard to guess Orr ) were drafted as teenagers
That’s why I was reaching out to you and Sr (and others that were around in the 60’s ) for first hand actual memories of what actually transpired re draft age changes.
Dryden was drafted in 1964 and was the first player drafted to go too the hhof.
Thanks Bill
The first age group of draft eligible players was 17
Thanks Bill
8787 Prior to 1967, you could draft 18-yr-olds. An agreement that year required a player to be 20 or have completed junior eligibility in order to be drafted.
Thanks very much Pulling The Goalie
In the first drafts players had to be 17 and up non-sponsored .
The draft system came in as a way to let all teams have the chance to sign players at the same time.
Before that teams would had amateur sponsorship, farm teams, kids were tied to teams from the time they were in midget.
Bobby Orr was never drafted for example, he joined the Bruins at age 14
The Habs bought a Senior league just to tie up one player, Beliveau so he could only play for them when he turned pro.
Those first few drafts didn’t yield many players as most of the good ones were already tied to teams.
Thanks Habfan30
As Yogi predicted a few weeks back, there will likely be a flurry of P.T.O. signings as we near the opening of training camps. Including those mentioned above, there are now 11 with 6 different teams (and who can still be offered contracts by any team):
NYR- LW Connor Sheary 33y/o 5’ 8” 182lbs;
St.Louis – LW Milan Lucic 37y/o 6’3” 235lbs;
New Jersey – C Kevin Rooney 32y/o 6’ 2” 200lbs; C Luke Glendening 36y/o 5’ 11 190lbs; G Georgii Romanov 25y/o 6’ 5” 207lbs; G Adam Scheel 26 y/o 6’ 4” 200lbs;
Carolina – RW Givani Smith 27y/o 6’ 2” 214lbs & LD Oliver Kylington 28 y/o 6’ 185lbs;
Minnesota – LD Jack Johnson 38y/o 6’ 2” 225lbs; RW Brett Leason 26y/o 6’ 5” 220lbs;
Columbus – LD Brendan Smith 36y/o 6’ 2” 200lbs.
No doubt there will be more announced over the next week, and although I am likely wrong on this, it would not surprise me to see Kuznetsov and Roslovic among them rather than receiving immediate firm contract offers.
i am sad about the passing of dryden. he was something. my first recollection of him was when we moved from massachusetts to ny in 1968 and i just began to follow hockey but of course didn’t really know anything about him until that 1971 series where he defeated the bruins and orr. so, similar to what lyle was stating. orr was the reason i was following hockey but dryden’s greatness in those series; especially 1976-79 when the habs won all those cups is what i remember about him the most. “too many men on the ice” and i did read his book “the game” . i didn’t realize he had cancer and was sick. RIP
tommyboy, what some south of the border may not have known about Ken Dryden was that, after retirement as a player, he became president of the Leafs in 1997 and stayed with the organization until 2004 (albeit in a reduced role and under a different title part way through), at which point he ran for, and was elected to, Canada’s Parliament as a Liberal in the York Centre Riding in the GTA, which lasted to 2011. Within that span he served as Minister of Social Development.
Not one to be sentimental here but Dryden’s death snuck up on and has unsettled me. Lyle, you are quite moved, and it’s always interesting to see how important sports figures can be to us. Not a great start to the day.
While there are passing references to Dryden’s writing in the announcements of his death, for those with an interest in hockey going from the early part of this century backwards, Dryden’s book on Scotty Bowman includes Bowman’s astonishing memory about the best teams from the ’50s forward. Fans may be interested in Bowman’s view of the greatest team of all time – of course up to the date of the book. It showcases Dryden’s very good writing style.
That was honest and beautiful, Lyle.
Ken Dryden is at the top of the mountain when it comes to goaltending, in my eyes.
I think he was simply the greatest backstop ever.
This is a very sad moment for hockey fans, for we’ve lost an icon in our game.
Condolences to his family, friends and all of our Canadiens fans cousins.
Can’t add anything new regarding Ken Dryden, but also can’t stay silent. Like many others here, I was a huge Bobby Orr fan, but I have such fond memories of Dryden’s emergence seemingly out of nowhere to lead the Habs to that cup. Truly a legendary performance, and that was just the start. Look at those career stats. Amazing.
Also, so smart and articulate. The only one to challenge him for classiest player ever is maybe Jean Beliveau.
RIP.
LJ, he was also among the relatively few goaltenders in the modern era to have spent his entire NHL career with one team. Not many did in the Montreal organization. I know Bill Durnan did as well – but he goes back to the 1940s – but Jacques Plante didn’t.
Off the top of my head, I can only recall Mike Richter with the NYR, Rick DiPietro with the Islanders and Turk Broda with the Leafs (and again, that was on the cusp of the start of the so-called “modern era.”
Billy Smith and Martin Brodeur came so very close, but Smith started with 5 games in L.A. while Brodeur played 7 in St. Louis et the end of his career.
George,
There are a few more,
Lundqvist
Rask
Rinne
Crawford
Price
I’m including traded goalies who for all intents and purposes retired and never dressed for another team.
Didn’t Lundqvist play a few games with the Caps?
Thanks habfan30 … I knew I was overlooking some … and Some Old Guy, nope, Lundqvist played all with the Rangers.
Heh. and of course I knew Price did … brain fart there for not jotting down his name.
Truly shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Ken Dryden. The backstop of the best professional sports team ever assembled and a very classy gentleman. That was the great team of my youth. To me, Dryden was truly one of the top goalies ever.
I had the honor of meeting Dryden as an 8 year old. My dad took me to a sports banquet in Montreal where Dryden was being honored. During the dinner, my father took me up to the head table to meet Dryden and get his autograph. He was so friendly. Asked my name, my age, what grade I was in. As a shy 8 year old, I could only stammer out a few words. But I’ll never forget this meeting.
RIP Mr. Dryden. You’ll never be forgotten.