Signs welcomed him back and No. 3 Islanders jerseys were pressed up against the glass during pregame warm-ups Sunday night at Barclays Center.
Travis Hamonic never got a real goodbye when he was traded to Calgary in June, but the crowd was on hand to say hello again.
The club’s former alternate captain — and homegrown defenseman of seven years — returned to his old home for the first time as the Islanders fell to the Flames 3-2.
“He played every shift like it was going to be his last and he’d do anything to try to win,” coach Doug Weight said before the game. “Block shots, fight, I think he was a real good adapter. … Definitely a big part of our team.”
The Islanders played a video tribute during the first TV timeout and Hamonic received a standing ovation from the crowd as he waved back in appreciation. He later fired a shot that led to the Flames’ winning goal.
“The video was really touching,” Hamonic said. “To get that ovation in warm-ups and during the video, and the respect the Islanders showed as well by all getting up, it meant a lot.”
Hamonic, who had requested a trade in the fall of 2015 to be closer to home in Manitoba for “a personal family matter” — though he told NHL.com on Sunday morning he rescinded the request at the end of that season — registered 26 goals and 120 assists in 444 games with the Islanders.
But his impact was felt far beyond the ice. An important voice in the locker room, he also won the NHL’s 2017 Foundation Award for the player who best uses hockey’s core values to “enrich the lives of people in his community.”
The Islanders packaged a conditional 2019 fourth-round pick with Hamonic to get back Calgary’s first and second-round picks in 2018 and a conditional 2019 second-round pick.
Johnny Boychuk came through Friday’s game, his first after missing 18 straight with a lower-body injury, feeling good and was in the lineup again Sunday.
The veteran defenseman had been sidelined since Dec. 27, using every fiber of his being to stay patient during a recovery that hit a few snags along the way.
“It was probably the most frustrating thing I’ve ever went through,” Boychuk said Sunday morning. “Just sitting and waiting, trying to get better and doing everything possible, it took a long time.”
Winger Cal Clutterbuck took a high stick to the neck early in the third period and did not return.