Martin Biron

Martin Biron
Biron during the 2010-11 NHL season as a member of the Rangers.
Born	(1977-08-15) August 15, 1977 Lac-Saint-Charles, QC, CAN
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
NHL team Former teams	New York Rangers Buffalo Sabres Philadelphia Flyers New York Islanders
National team	Canada
NHL Draft	16th overall, 1995 Buffalo Sabres
Playing career	1996–present

Martin Gaston Biron (born August 15, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played professionally for the Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and New York Islanders. His younger brother Mathieu plays for the Hamburg Freezers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

Playing career

Buffalo Sabres

Martin Biron in goal for Buffalo.

Biron started his hockey career on the Beauport Harfangs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, 16th overall. He got his first NHL start for the Buffalo Sabres in the 1995–96 season. After posting a 5.04 goals against average, with zero wins and two losses, he was sent back to the QMJHL to improve. After the 2000–01 season, he was a consistent goaltender for the Sabres as his play in the crease improved drastically.

Biron, along with Rob Ray and Dominik Hašek, was one of the three Sabres against whom, in three consecutive years, the NHL made a specific rule. After NHL statisticians discovered a bug in their new stat-tracking software, the "Biron rule" restricted jersey numbers to whole numbers between 1 and 99 (later limited to numbers between 1 and 98 after the league-wide retirement of number 99 for Wayne Gretzky). Biron was the only NHL player affected as only he wore "00" at the time. (Goaltender John Davidson also wore 00 during his playing career, without rebuke, at various points in his playing career between 1973 and 1983.) Upon his return to the NHL three seasons later, Biron switched to number 43, a number he has worn ever since. Biron has always been a fan favorite in Buffalo and although he no longer plays there, he currently resides in the city during the offseason.

Philadelphia Flyers

Biron with the Flyers during the 2008-09 NHL season.

After losing the number one goaltending job to youngster Ryan Miller, Biron requested a trade from the Sabres on June 26, 2006, in an effort to receive more playing time. Finally, on February 27, 2007, the Sabres traded Biron to the Philadelphia Flyers for a second round draft pick.

On March 27, 2007, Biron signed a two-year, $7 million contract extension with the Flyers to be the starting goalie in Philadelphia. After appearing in 62 games and recording 30 wins in the 2007–08 season, he led the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing in five games to the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins. He appeared in 55 games for the Flyers in the 2008-09 NHL Season, winning 29 and helping the Flyers to the 5th overall seed in the Eastern Conference.

New York Islanders

Biron with the Islanders

On July 1, 2009, Biron entered free agency. He was soon left in a difficult position after the Flyers signed goaltenders Ray Emery and Brian Boucher, while other teams quickly filled up their goaltending roster needs. Biron soon signed a one-year, $1.4 million contract with the New York Islanders on July 22, 2009, joining goaltenders Dwayne Roloson and Rick DiPietro. In 29 appearances, Biron recorded 9 wins to go with 14 losses and 4 overtime losses, with a 3.27 goals against average and .896 save percentage. The Islanders did not qualify for the post-season.

New York Rangers

On July 1, 2010, Biron signed a two-year, $1.75 million deal with the New York Rangers, where he prepared to back up Swedish starter Henrik Lundqvist. Biron is one of four players in NHL history to skate for all three teams based in the state of New York. The others were Mike Donnelly and former teammates Jason Dawe and Pat LaFontaine, Biron will have played almost his entire career in the state of New York, except for a brief 2½-year stint with the Philadelphia Flyers.

On February 28, 2011, Biron fractured his collarbone during practice, and was forced to miss the remainder of the 2010–2011 season. While Biron played the shortest number of games (17) since his second NHL season in 1998-99, he posted career highs in save percentage (.923) and goals against average (2.13). On June 29, 2012 Biron resigned with the New York Rangers. The contract is worth $2.6 million over two years, working out to an average of $1.3 million per year.

Awards

• QMJHL All-Rookie Team (1995)
• Canadian Major Junior First All-Star Team (1995)
• Canadian Major Junior Goaltender of the Year (1995)
• AHL First All-Star Team (1999)
• Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award (fewest goals against - AHL) (1999) (shared with Tom Draper)
• Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award (Outstanding Goaltender - AHL) (1999)

Career statistics

Regular season

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T	OTL	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1994–95	Beauport Harfangs	QMJHL		56	29	16	9	—	3193	132	3	2.48	—
1995–96	Beauport Harfangs	QMJHL		55	29	17	7	—	3207	150	1	2.84	.897
1995–96	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		3	0	2	0	—	119	10	0	5.04	.844
1996–97	Beauport Harfangs	QMJHL		18	6	10	1	—	935	62	1	3.98	.895
1996–97	Hull Olympiques	QMJHL		16	11	4	1	—	972	43	2	2.65	.915
1997–98	South Carolina Stingrays	ECHL		2	0	1	1	—	86	3	0	2.09	.929
1997–98	Rochester Americans	AHL		41	14	18	6	—	2312	113	5	2.93	.907
1998–99	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		6	1	2	1	—	281	10	0	2.14	.917
1998–99	Rochester Americans	AHL		52	36	13	3	—	3129	108	6	2.07	.930
1999–00	Rochester Americans	AHL		6	6	0	0	—	344	12	1	2.09	.924
1999–00	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		41	19	18	2	—	2229	90	5	2.42	.909
2000–01	Rochester Americans	AHL		4	3	1	0	—	239	4	1	1.00	.955
2000–01	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		18	7	7	1	—	918	39	2	2.55	.909
2001–02	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		72	31	28	10	—	4085	151	4	2.22	.915
2002–03	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		54	17	28	6	—	3170	135	4	2.56	.908
2003–04	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		52	26	18	5	—	2921	125	2	2.52	.913
2005–06	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		35	21	8	—	3	1934	93	1	2.88	.905
2006–07	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		19	12	4	—	1	1066	54	0	3.04	.899
2006–07	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		16	6	8	—	2	935	47	0	3.02	.908
2007–08	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		62	30	20	—	9	3539	153	5	2.59	.918
2008–09	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		55	29	19	—	5	3176	146	2	2.75	.915
2009–10	New York Islanders	NHL		29	9	14	—	4	1634	89	1	3.27	.896
2009–10	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL		2	1	1	—	0	124	7	0	3.39	.903
2010–11	New York Rangers	NHL		17	8	6	—	0	928	33	0	2.13	.923
2011–12	New York Rangers	NHL		21	12	6	—	2	1220	50	2	2.46	.904
NHL totals				500	228	188	25	26	28207	1225	28	2.61	.911

Playoffs

Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1994–95	Beauport Harfangs	QMJHL		16	8	7	900	37	4	2.47	—
1995–96	Beauport Harfangs	QMJHL		19	12	7	1134	64	0	3.39	—
1996–97	Hull Olympiques	QMJHL		6	3	1	325	19	0	3.51	—
1997–98	Rochester Americans	AHL		4	1	3	239	16	0	4.01	.885
1998–99	Rochester Americans	AHL		20	12	8	1167	42	1	2.16	.934
2007–08	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		17	9	8	1048	52	1	2.97	.904
2008–09	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		6	2	4	375	16	1	2.56	.919
NHL totals				23	11	10	1423	68	2	2.87	.908

International

Year	Team	Event			GP	W	L	T	MIN	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1997	Canada	WJC			1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.00	.000
2003	Canada	WC			Selected, but did not play
Senior int'l totals					0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	.000

See also

• Notable families in the NHL

External links

• Martin Biron's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
• Martin Biron at Hockey-Reference.com
• Martin Biron's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Martin Biron's player profile at NHL.com
• Profile at Hockey Goalies

Preceded by Jay McKee

Buffalo Sabres first round draft pick 1995

Succeeded by Erik Rasmussen