EAST MEADOW, NY — Matt Martin is in unknown territory as he prepares for his 16th NHL season.
The long-time fourth-liner and a core piece of the New York Islanders for the better part of the last decade and a half arrived to the first day of training camp without a contract — general manager Lou Lamoriello opting to bring the 35-year-old in on a professional tryout after his contract with the Islanders expired at the end of the 2023-24 season.
“It’s certainly a different mindset,” Martin said on Thursday. “You have something to prove from a different perspective than before when you had a contract. I feel comfortable in this room, I’ve been friends with a lot of these guys for a long time.”
One of his best friends, fellow long-time fourth-liner Cal Clutterbuck, is not here — the Islanders parting ways with him over the summer after his contract expired. It was a fate that could have also been Martin’s as speculation in recent years hinted at the breakup of the that line which also featured Casey Cizikas.
Martin saw limited action in what was his contract year last season. Between injuries and being scratched by former head coach Lane Lambert, he appeared in 57 games. He then suffered an upper-body injury down the stretch of the regular season and sat out the entirety of the Islanders’ short playoff run, which ended in the first round at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes.
“With my injuries last season, I think this kind of reopened what the possibilities were for us,” Martin said. “The interest that there was [from other teams] was not necessarily something that I wanted to do rather than what I’m doing now.
“I’m excited to be here at camp. Obviously last season didn’t end the way anyone wanted to, especially for myself being injured and not being able to play.”
Now Martin begins a fight to have his named penciled into the fourth-line, left-wing slot that had been his first so long in New York. But the Islanders are slowly getting younger and the likes of Hudson Fasching and Simon Holmstrom will be gunning for that spot, as well.
“I don’t have expectations necessarily but as a competitor, you fully believe you can make any team,” he said. “I’m very much a day by day kind of person… I’ll just take it day by day mindset wise and you just go out there and give it your all and let the chips fall where they fall.
