Martin Biron Jersey Card

This is a Philadelphia Flyers uniform I was never on board with, the alternate from the 2002-07 years, as seen on card #DDJ-BI from Upper Deck's 2007-08 Black Diamond set (and Black Diamond Jersey sub-set):

It features Martin Biron, one of about two dozen goalies who were not given a very long chance at being the team's #1 goalie in the past three decades, and a reddish game-worn jersey swatch.

The thing with the Flyers is they are pretty good at reaching the Conference Finals or even the Stanley Cup Final at least once per decade, but they are also prone to awful seasons where they finish near the bottom of the league standings; when it's the latter, they usually completely overhaul the goalie position, focusing the blame on poor goaltending, but they rarely view the puck stoppers are a reason for their success.

They are pretty much a goaltender cemetery. This year should be no exception, as blame for the team's failures will likely fall on Steve Mason's shoulders despite the offense and coaching being, in my opinion, the main culprits of their fall, centered around a pretty bad losing streak around the All-Star Game.

Martin Biron Swatch Card

Martin Biron retired after a rough start to the 2013-14 season, posting a 7.61 GAA with a .763 save percentage in a couple of games that forced head coach Alain Vigneault to turn to Cam Talbot to back up Henrik Lundqvist.

He had done fine work in the previous three seasons, finishing his parts of four years with the Original Six franchise with a 22-15-3 record, a 2.47 GAA and .908 save percentage, settling into the backup role after fighting for the #1 spot with the Buffalo Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers as well as an unclear 2009-10 with the New York Islanders where he outplayed Dwayne Roloson at times but couldn't sustain the rhythm, and was eventually sent to the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers to make room for Rick DiPietro who had been cleared to play although he was clearly not in game shape.

All told, Biron played in the NHL for 16 seasons, most of them in New York State, save for two and a quarter seasons right across the New Jersey turnpike, for the Flyers. He gave great post-game interviews and had funny moments on-camera when the NHL started allowing color commentators near team benches, which led to his post-career as a TV analyst, mostly for the MSG Network but also part-time with Canadian broadcasters RDS/TSN. Everybody loves him, and he's really fun to listen to, at times overly excited, yet always on point and pertinent.

Here he is wearing the Rangers' classic white (now-away) uniform with a great shot of his mask and piercing blue eyes, from Panini's 2013-14 Titanium set (card #GG-MBI of the Game-Worn Gear sub-set), featuring a game-worn blue swatch:

For some reason, I'll always identify him as a Sabre, despite their sandwiching him between Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller, but my ''Biron Highlight'' will forever remain his performance in the second round of the 2007-08 playoffs as a Flyer, where he nearly single-highhandedly (with the help of timely R.J. Umberger goals) eliminated the Montréal Canadiens and their prized goalie Carey Price in the midst of the team's centennial celebrations, bringing Price to tears by Game 5. It was poetic injustice to see a local kid eliminate his hometown team so intensely and squarely in what was supposed to be its rebirth and re-positioning into the league's elite.

I won't go overboard and say it was one of the finest displays of goaltending I've ever seen because I've seen Patrick Roy will his way onto four Stanley Cups and three Conn Smythe trophies, and Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Ron Hextall, and Miikka Kiprusoff get their weaker team to the Final by forgetting they could let goals get by them, but as far as amazing performances while coming up short of the Final, Biron's 2008 is only overshadowed by Jaroslav Halak's 2010.

Martin Biron Autographed Card

I think he could have been a decent, consistent #1 goalie in the NHL, but unfortunately for Martin Biron, he was with the Buffalo Sabres overlapping both the Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller eras, two of the best goalies of their generations (Hasek, in my opinion, trailing only Patrick Roy in the 90s - well ahead of Martin Brodeur, Ed Belfour and Curtis Joseph - and Miller in a top-5 that includes Henrik Lundqvist, Miikka Kiprusoff, Roberto Luongo and one of Tomas Vokoun or José Theodore for his own decade).

As a matter of fact, the Sabres had so much faith in Biron that they made him the 16th overall pick in 1995, in the first round despite having Hasek already in nets. The only goalie chosen before him was Jean-Sébastien Giguère. Both were nominated as the CHL's Goalie Of The Year in 1995 - Biron won.

In his first few years in Buffalo, Biron wore #00 - the same he wore in juniors, as can be attested by this card, #16 in Classic's 1995-96 Hockey Draft 95 set where he's sporting the Beauport Harfangs' black (away) jersey; however, a glitch in the NHL's statistics software forced a rule that limited jersey numbers to be between 1 and 98 (Wayne Gretzky's 99 was retired league-wide), at which point Biron switched to #43, which he still holds.

Apart from the numbers thing, Biron might also be remembered for his performance against my hometown Montréal Canadiens in 2007-08, when he dominated Carey Price in winning the series 4-1, never making less than 30 saves per game. His Philadelphia Flyers may have lost in the Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but his performance against the Habs was the most dominating of that year's playoffs.

After a brief stint with the New York Islanders, he moved on to be Lundqvist's backup with the New York Rangers, a position he still holds today. Or would, if there were a season.

I got him to sign this card in blue sharpie in the late 90s when he appeared at a hockey school where I was teaching. We played a scrimmage against one another that finished 15-12 for my team; as far as NHL players go, Patrick Lebeau scored 5 goals on him, while Benoit Hogue and Sylvain Turgeon each scored 3 on me.

I had a huge stash of this exact card (still do, actually, probably 35 or 40 of them), and had originally planned on getting more signed, but in the end I chickened out and was too shy to ask for more than a couple.

Three SP Game-Used Jersey Cards: Keith Primeau, Martin Biron & Jay Bouwmeester

I wouldn't recommend it for uncertified autographs, but for something as simple as an Upper Deck jersey card, Ebay can work wonders.

Here we have three jersey cards from the 2006-07 SP Game-Used Edition series: Keith Primeau (Philadelphia Flyers), Martin Biron (Buffalo Sabres) and Jay Bouwmeester (Florida Panthers) - each sporting a uniform they no longer wear.

The advantage of purchasing more than one item from one seller is that you get to save on shipping - most times. Some don't reduce shipping fees from extra items bought or won, but most do, so it becomes more worth it to get the extra 2 cards at fifty cents per card (plus fifty cents shipping) than fifty cents a card plus three dollars or so. Add them up, and, on average, they become way more affordable.