Biron wins big deal in Philly

"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."

— Flyers GM Paul Holmgren after signing
Martin Biron to a two-year, $7-million contract

When you're flailing at the bottom of the NHL standings by a solid 12 points, you really don't have much leverage when it comes to signing free agents. It's the reason Martin Havlat scored a bloated deal from Chicago, Ed Jovanovski got a princely sum in Phoenix and Zdeno Chara ran laughing to the bank in Beantown.

It's also the reason a 29-year-old netminder who has only had three 50+ game seasons in his career got a nice raise yesterday in Philadelphia.

Biron's now the 12th-highest paid goaltender in the league, despite only starting 59 games since 2003-04 and never finishing higher than 19th in wins, goals-against average or save percentage since playing 72 games for the Sabres back in 2001-02.

Holmgren based his decision to ink Biron on three things: a) the netminder's 10-game audition in a Flyers uniform, b) the fact he forfeited a second-round pick to get him for the team's nonexistent stretch run, and c) well, based on this season, the Flyers really needed a goalie.

Biron has been decent so far as a Flyer, posting a 4-5-1 record with a relatively high GAA (2.96) and decent save percentage (.913). How he fares in backstopping a Philadelphia team likely to be loaded with a few top-end UFA signings remains to be seen, but there's just one thing Flyers fans should keep in mind: Since entering the NHL in 1995-96, Biron has played exactly zero minutes in the postseason.

So much for finding the answer to the one position that has been the team's weak point since the days of Bernie Parent.

Although, at this rate, Holmgren is likely looking to simply get out of the basement, regardless of the outcome — or the price.