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Hamonic willing to finish season with Isles

Travis Hamonic, Tyson Strachan

Travis Hamonic, Tyson Strachan

AP

Travis Hamonic may not be traded right away, but it sure sounds like his days with the New York Islanders are numbered.

“The root of all of this is a personal, family matter,” Hamonic said today, per NHL.com. “That’s as far as I’m going to go, that it’s a personal, family matter. I think the Islanders have been great with me throughout this whole process. I know people are going to say and write what they want, but it has nothing to do with the organization or how I’ve been treated here. I’ve been honestly treated like gold from the start.”

Hamonic’s name became the talk of the league yesterday after Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Isles were trying to trade the 25-year-old defenseman, at Hamonic’s request.

Per Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post, Hamonic says he’d be willing to finish the season with the Isles. So at the very least, GM Garth Snow doesn’t have to make a deal today. Trading players in the offseason is typically much easier.

Now, some have argued that the Isles have no obligation whatsoever to trade Hamonic, that he signed his contract and he should have to honor it.

But let’s be real here -- playing hardball with an employee who’s clearly dealing with a serious family matter doesn’t do much for an organization’s reputation.

And besides, there are more important things in the world than hockey.

In fact, it’s a pretty long list of things that are more important.