By Michael Rushton
The Philadelpha Flyers are close to signing goaltender Martin Biron to a two-year contract. Both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News reported the imminent deal on Tuesday, with Ed Moran of the Daily News saying the deal could be done today.
"We're close," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren told the Daily News. "This is a really good thing for the Flyers. It's a little more than I wanted to spend. But I don't think we could afford to let it get to July. I don't think we would have lost him, but it could have been risky."
According to Moran, the deal will pay Biron $3.5 million a year. Tim Panaccio of the Inquirer, citing league sources, said the two-deal will be worth about $6.8 million.
Biron has played in 10 games with the Flyers this season and is 4-5 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. The former first-round pick in 1995 has a career 2.54 GAA.
The move is the latest by Holmgren as he quickly attempts to rebuild his proud franchise. He has jettisoned center Peter Forsberg to Nashville for the growing fan favorite Scottie Upshall and a defensive prospect, in addition to solidifying the blue line with Braydon Coburn and Lasse Kukkonen.
The signing of Biron at least means the Flyers did not entirely waste the second-round pick they sent to Buffalo for the netminder, who was set to be a free agent this offseason. Had he not re-signed with Philadelphia, the high draft pick would have been nothing more than a very high rental price for a team way out of the playoff race.
More importantly, Biron will now give the Flyers a clear-cut number one goaltender for the next two seasons, something the Flyers haven't had for a while as numerous goalies have fought and won the position.
It also means netminder Robert Esche will be playing somewhere else next season.
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