At one point, Matt Martin was joking about his emotions, saying that his wife would be happy to listen to Heer, he was feeling something ahead of what is presumed to be his last game at home with the islanders.
The next, all the emotion was spilling at the same time, a wave that is the construction of legs throughout the season that crashes like a tsunami.
Martin took a long pause. He lowered his head. His lip treated.
“I am very proud to wear this shirt and be part of this team and community,” he said.
He buried his face in his shirt.
“I obviously don’t know what the future holds,” he said. “Through the good and the bad, the heartbreak and everything, it is always a pleasure to be part of this team and use this uniform. Excited to leave and play tonight and go from there.”
This was every hour before the game itself, when Martin will use a ‘A’ something the first time he has done it in a regular season game, and will be in the initial alignment against the capitals, the islanders give him deserved flowers.
Out of Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck, who have the status of equality here, no one embodied the era of the island’s hockey who is currently coming to an end as Matt Martin.
There was a reason why Trio began almost all games with Barry Trotz. They established a tone, they created the identity. They were workers, blue, physical and ground. His personality was perfect for Long Island and perfect for the islanders.
Martin has repeatedly refused to address his future, so he is a Mossible Technician who tries to give him another opportunity next season, with 14 games to hit 1,000 for his career.
But it was shocking that he returned this year, prohibits a trial contract, which made him a place in the list at the beginning of the season after the injuries hit and stayed to play 30 games and provide support where he could.
Unlike a year ago, the end of Martin extends to the player and the organization.
“It’s a very good friend and teammate for a long time,” Captain Anders Lee said. “I have had the pleasure of being in the room with him and spending a lot with him on the ice and in the room. Only a special person who I think has had an infernal career.
“He deserves all the recognition and honors in the future and be recognized as one of the great islands for what he has done for this team and organization.”
Timely, Martin was nominated Tuesday as a candidate for the islanders for the King Clancy Memorial trophy, given to the player “that best exemplifies the leadership qualities inside and outside the ice and has made a remarkable humanitution to his.”
Martin directs an annual hockey camp in the summer at the islander’s practice center, and their fundamental contributions to several causes, including the fight against cystic fibrosis.
“I think that the impact he has had on the community, the way he was handled and represented to be an islander, is no more true than Marty,” said Lee, Clancy’s winner last year.
It has been a difficult year for the islanders, to see Brock Nelson be changed in March and miss the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
The core that got two memorable final races of the conference is already official, since Martin is likely to join Nelson, Cal Clutterbuck and Josh Bailey as recent outings.
“Separate times, but in the course of a year and a half, things like this,” Lee said. “Every time one of those guys left, he felt like a piece of what we were going to be his next steps.”
This is as emotional as any other.
“This is a special place,” Martin said.