Former Flyers goaltender, Martin Biron signed a one-year, $1.4 million deal with the New York Islanders.
He was originally seeking a deal with the Flyers that would lock him up long term and would be worth more than double the contract he received.
Biron has to be questioning his agent right about now, considering he could have probably signed the same deal with the Flyers who are a playoff contender. Instead, he will be playing for a last place team that already has two goalies locked in for next year. Rick DiPietro is signed to a ludicrous contract that will have him playing on the Island until 2021. The Islanders also signed Dwayne Roloson to a two-year deal worth $5 million as an insurance policy for DiPietro’s injury woes of past seasons.
Ray Emery better hope that he performs at the level that brought him within reach of the Stanley Cup a couple of years ago. If he does not, he may find himself on a list of past Flyers starting goaltenders that were doomed the day they laced up their skates on Broad Street. This list starts after Ron Hextall.
1998-99 – John Vanbiesbrouck – The most important thing to remember with this signing is that the Flyers signed Beezer over Curtis Joseph… enough said. He has been a backup ever since.
1999-00 – Brian Boucher – Lead the Flyers to the infamous game seven against the devils in the Eastern Conference Finals in his rookie season. Everyone thought that Boucher would be the next great goaltender and instead he plummeted in his next season losing his starting job to a relevant unknown. Since leaving Philly, Boucher has been a career backup or starting disappointment for Phoenix, Calgary, Chicago, Columbus, Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL), San Jose and now he is back with the Flyers and will serve as backup to Ray Emery.
2000-03 – Roman Cechmanek – Believe it or not, Cechmanek was a Vezina finalist. All I will say is that he was most famous for using his head to deflect pucks out of play and anyone who knows hockey would strongly consider that to be a desirable attribute for a starting goaltender. After leaving the Flyers he played for Los Angeles and now plays in a league in the Czech Republic.
2004 – 07 – Robert Esche (Silent Bob) – Like Boucher, Esche lead the Flyers to a game-seven loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals and then his career took a tumble. He now plays in the Russian Hockey League.
2007-09 – Martin Biron – Also lead the Flyers to the Eastern Conference finals but came no where close to a game seven against the Penguins. Biron was traded to Philly from Buffalo where he was a back-up to Ryan Miller and will now serve as a backup to both Rick DiPietro and Dwayne Roloson.
2009-10 – Ray Emery – Best of luck Ray…
