Buffalo Sabres History: Who Wore It, Number 43

We continue our series about Buffalo Sabres history, with each day’s post highlighting a player to have worn the subsequent jersey number with the Buffalo Sabres. This series is not designed to say that any player is the ‘best’ to have worn that jersey number, but rather to allow fans to get a taste of the team’s history and learn more about some of the players in it.

Martin Biron is one of just three players in Sabres history to suit up with jersey number 43. I’ll always remember him as one of the best personality players on the Sabres, and after a few years, he’s back in Buffalo to act as the Director of Goaltending at the new Academy of Hockey at the HARBORCenter.

Biron is one of just a handful of players to have suited up for all three New York teams. He began his career with the Sabres and spent many years in Buffalo, played half a season with the New York Islanders and ended his career with the New York Rangers. In the midst of all that, he also played parts of three seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Marty Biron was originally drafted by the Sabres in 1995, with the 16th overall selection.He was in the QMJHL at the time, playing for the Beauport Harfangs. Biron would play in three NHL games in the following season but would spend most of that year with Beauport. He’d split the 1996-97 season between Beauport and Hull (Olympiques) before making the jump to the AHL the following season.

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Biron was back-and-forth between the Rochester Americans and the Sabres for the first few years. His first season with the Amerks saw him put up a 2.93 GAA and .907 save percentage in 41 games with Rochester; he also appeared in two ECHL games with the South Carolina Stingrays.

His first significant season with the Sabres came in the 1999-2000 year, when he played in 41 games with Buffalo. Biron had a 2.42 GAA and .909 save percentage. This would see the beginning of his hearty true NHL career; while he’d play four games in Rochester the next year, he was mostly with the NHL club from that point on.

Biron was with the Sabres organization until February 2007, when he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a draft pick that would end up being T.J. Brennan. He spent the rest of that season, plus another two years, with the Flyers organization. Biron then played 29 games with the Islanders in 2009-10 before parts of four seasons with the Rangers from 2010 until 2014.

Since then, he’s appeared as an analyst on RDS, TSN and MSG, and now he’ll be Director of Goaltending back in Buffalo at the new Academy of Hockey program.

You can follow him on Twitter at @martybiron43.

Other players to wear number 43 for the Sabres: Jason Dawe, Francois Guay

I don’t know about you, but I think one of my favorite memories of Marty Biron’s time with the Sabres will always be this: