Martin Biron

Martin Gaston Biron (born August 15, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently the second string goalie 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).

Buffalo Sabres
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.

Philadelphia Flyers
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
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 2 1/2-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).

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)