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Martin Biron

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Martin Biron
Biron with the New York Rangers in 2010
Born (1977-08-15) August 15, 1977 (age 47)
Lac-Saint-Charles, Quebec, Canada
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for Buffalo Sabres
Philadelphia Flyers
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
National team  Canada
NHL draft 16th overall, 1995
Buffalo Sabres
Playing career 1995–2013

Martin Gaston Biron (/ˈbɪərɒn/;[1] born August 15, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.

Drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round (16th overall) of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, he spent the first half of his 16-year National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Sabres, later having stints with the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, and New York Rangers. He is currently a television analyst with the Sabres on MSG Western New York.

His younger brother Mathieu played 250 games in the NHL as a defenceman.

Playing career

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Martin Biron in goal for Buffalo during the 2005–06 season

As a youth, Biron played in the 1991 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Charlesbourg, Quebec City.[2]

Biron started his junior ice hockey career on the Beauport Harfangs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres on December 26, 1995.[3] An emergency call-up with the Sabres' top three goaltenders all injured, Biron became the fourth-youngest goaltender to start a game in NHL history, surrendering four first-period goals in a 6–3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.[4] After posting a 5.04 goals against average (GAA) with no wins and two losses during his fill-in stint, he was sent back to the QMJHL to develop further. After the 2000–01 season, he was a consistent goaltender for the Sabres as his play in the crease improved drastically.[5]

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 between 1973 and 1983.) Upon his return to the NHL three seasons later, Biron switched to number 43, and wore that number until the end of his career.

Biron became the Sabres' starting goaltender after Hašek's departure from Buffalo in 2001 and held the position until the 2004–05 NHL lockout. Biron has always been a fan favorite in Buffalo and although he no longer plays there, he currently resides in the city and after his retirement has a position as director of goaltending at HarborCenter, which is owned and operated by the Sabres organization.[6]

Biron won his 13th consecutive game on December 17, 2005 against the Pittsburgh Penguins[1][dead link]. He was the first goalie with 13 straight wins since Chris Osgood accomplished the feat during the 1995-1996 season.

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

After losing the number one goaltending job to emerging 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.[7]

On March 27, 2007, Biron signed a two-year, $7 million contract extension with the Flyers to be the starting goaltender 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 season, winning 29 and helping the Flyers to the fifth-overall seed in the Eastern Conference.

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,[8] joining goaltenders Dwayne Roloson and Rick DiPietro. In 29 appearances, Biron recorded nine wins, 14 losses and four overtime losses, with a 3.27 goals against average and .896 save percentage. The Islanders did not qualify for the post-season.

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 six 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 Taylor Pyatt, Chad Johnson, Jason Dawe and Pat LaFontaine. Except for a 21⁄2-year stint with the Philadelphia Flyers, Biron played almost his entire career in the state of New York. On February 28, 2011, Biron fractured his collarbone during practice and was forced to miss the remainder of the 2010–11 season. While he played in the lowest 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).[9][needs update] On June 29, 2012 Biron re-signed with the Rangers in a one-way contract worth $2.6 million over two years, working out to an average of $1.3 million per year.[10]

On October 14, 2013, the Rangers placed Biron on waivers after a poor start to the season,[11] and the following day, he was assigned to play with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL).[12] Biron announced his retirement via social media on October 20, 2013, choosing retirement over playing in the minor leagues.[13] He ended his career with a 230–191–25–27 record, 2.62 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.[14]

Post-playing career

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He currently works as a studio analyst with the Sabres and the Sabres Hockey Network on MSG Western New York. Previously, he was an analyst on the TSN panel along with James Duthie, Aaron Ward and Bob McKenzie, worked on NHL Network, and did studio work for the New York Islanders. He is also the director of goaltending at the Academy of Hockey at the Buffalo HarborCenter. Biron also stars on the popular Buffalo sports podcast, "Sabres Live", with Brian Duff.

On February 21, 2017, Biron received United States citizenship. He sought U.S. citizenship because he had married an American citizen and has resided with her and their four children in Buffalo for several years; but as he was not a U.S. citizen, he could not vote in American elections, and because he did not reside in Canada he could not vote in his native country.[15]

Biron was inducted into the Rochester Americans Hall of Fame on February 16, 2018.[16]

Family

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Martin's son, Jacob, followed in his father's footsteps and became a goaltender. After playing junior hockey in Buffalo and Kemptville, he joined the program at Army for the fall of 2024.[17]

Awards

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Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1993–94 Abitibi-Témiscamingue QMAAA 23 14 8 1 — 1,412 80 1 3.40 — 2 1 1 112 7 0 3.73 —
1994–95 Beauport Harfangs QMJHL 56 29 16 9 — 3,193 132 3 2.48 .898 16 8 7 903 37 4 2.46 .904
1995–96 Beauport Harfangs QMJHL 55 29 17 7 — 3,207 150 1 2.84 .897 19 12 7 1,135 64 0 3.38 .888
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 6 3 1 326 19 0 3.50 .871
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 — 2,312 113 5 2.93 .907 4 1 3 239 16 0 4.02 .885
1998–99 Buffalo Sabres NHL 6 1 2 1 — 281 10 0 2.14 .917 — — — — — — — —
1998–99 Rochester Americans AHL 52 36 13 3 — 3,129 108 6 2.07 .930 20 12 8 1,167 42 1 2.16 .934
1999–00 Rochester Americans AHL 6 6 0 0 — 344 12 1 2.09 .924 — — — — — — — —
1999–00 Buffalo Sabres NHL 41 19 18 2 — 2,229 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 — 4,085 151 4 2.22 .915 — — — — — — — —
2002–03 Buffalo Sabres NHL 54 17 28 6 — 3,170 135 4 2.56 .908 — — — — — — — —
2003–04 Buffalo Sabres NHL 52 26 18 5 — 2,972 125 2 2.52 .913 — — — — — — — —
2005–06 Buffalo Sabres NHL 35 21 8 — 3 1,934 93 1 2.88 .905 — — — — — — — —
2006–07 Buffalo Sabres NHL 19 12 4 — 1 1,066 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 3,539 153 5 2.59 .918 17 9 8 1,049 52 1 2.97 .904
2008–09 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 55 29 19 — 5 3,177 146 2 2.75 .915 6 2 4 375 16 1 2.56 .919
2009–10 New York Islanders NHL 29 9 14 — 4 1,634 89 1 3.27 .896 — — — — — — — —
2009–10 Bridgeport Sound Tigers AHL 2 1 1 — 0 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 1,220 50 2 2.46 .904 — — — — — — — —
2012–13 New York Rangers NHL 6 2 2 — 1 336 13 0 2.32 .917 — — — — — — — —
2013–14 New York Rangers NHL 2 0 1 — 0 71 9 0 7.61 .763 — — — — — — — —
NHL totals 508 230 191 25 27 28,612 1247 28 2.62 .910 23 11 12 1,424 68 2 2.87 .908

International

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Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1997 Canada WJC 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.00 —
2003 Canada WC Selected, but did not play

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 2013–14 National Hockey League Player Pronunciations. Retrieved February 19, 2018
  2. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  3. ^ Klein, Jeff Z. (October 14, 2013). "Rangers Put Backup Goaltender on Waivers". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Penguins 6, Sabres 3". United Press International. December 26, 1995.
  5. ^ "Martin Biron Stats | Hockey-Reference.com". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
  6. ^ Vogl, John (September 21, 2012). Biron among locked-out players biding their time. The Buffalo News. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  7. ^ "Sabres deal Biron to Flyers, get Conklin". Canadian Press. February 27, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
  8. ^ "Isles sign goalie Martin Biron to a one-year deal". National Hockey League. July 22, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  9. ^ Klein, Jeff Z. (February 28, 2011). "At Deadline, Rangers Are Unable to Fill Sudden Need". NY Times online. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  10. ^ Dan Rosen (July 2, 2010). "Rangers sign Biron". NHL Media. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  11. ^ "Rangers place forward Asham, goaltender Biron on waivers". Tsn.ca. October 14, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  12. ^ "Asham, Biron Assigned to Hartford". Blueshirts United. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  13. ^ TSN.ca staff (October 29, 2013). "BIRON ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER 16 NHL SEASONS". TSN.ca. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  14. ^ "Vinny Lecavalier Moved to First Line, Martin Biron Retires". Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  15. ^ "Former Sabre Marty Biron becomes US Citizen".
  16. ^ "AMERKS TO INDUCT MARTIN BIRON INTO HALL OF FAME". amerks.com. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  17. ^ "Jacob Biron". Elite Prospects. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
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Awards and achievements
Preceded by Buffalo Sabres first round draft pick
1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award
1998–99 		Succeeded by
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