Retiring First Rounders

Remember Roman Hamrlik?  I do, and I also happen to have this card, back when I collected hockey cards (for the record, I still have them, but haven't added any in a while).  Yesterday, Hamrlik announced his retirement, which lasted 20 seasons and seven NHL teams.  He will forever go down as the first ever draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in what turned out to be a rather weak draft, as he went first overall in 1992.  That year, the draft included the talented, but enigmatic Alexei Yashin, a dependable Cory Stillman, and the still-going Sergei Gonchar (currently with the Dallas Stars).  Hamrlik never really got going with the Lightning despite an all-star nod in 1996, arguably his best offensive year, due to some poor teams around him.  He spent time with Edmonton, where he earned another all-star nod in 1999, the New York Islanders, where he earned his third all-star nod in 2003, Calgary, Montreal, Washington, and the New York Rangers.  He also earned a gold medal in 1998 with the Czech Republic and retires with 155 goals and 483 assists in 1395 games.

The other former first round pick to retire recently was Martin Biron, who was taken 16th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 1995.  He earned the distinction early on as the last player to wear the number 00.  The "Biron Rule," as it's known, was enforced to make players choose numbers between 1 and 99 (99 would be retired league-wide after Wayne Gretzky's retirement in 1999, making it now between 1 and 98) due to a bug in the league's stat-tracking software.  For much of his Sabres career, he was the backup to Dominik Hasek, and when Hasek was traded prior to the 2001-02 season, it was Biron who took the starting job.  Despite putting up decent numbers, the Sabres did not make the playoffs until the 2005-06 season, when Ryan Miller began to take away some of Biron's starts and eventually, the starting job in 2007, when Biron would be traded to Philadelphia.  Biron would continue to play well in Philadelphia, leading to a free-agency deal with the New York Islanders, where he would struggle in his lone year there.  Biron would sign with the cross-town rival New York Rangers and provide capable backup to Henrik Lundqvist for two years.  However, the Rangers' early struggles this season prompted them to send Biron to the minors, where he would announce his retirement.  In 506 games, Biron posted a 230-190-25-35 record with a career GAA of 2.60.