Earlier this month, New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk announced he was retiring from the National Hockey League due to an eye injury.

Johnny Boychuk was shipped from Boston to New York in the beginning of the 2014 season. When Johnny Boychuk arrived on the Island, the team was in shambles. The locker room chemistry was poor, the management was incompetent, and the on-ice product was mediocre.

The Islanders made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six seasons during the 2013 season, but failed to return the following year, leaving fans disappointed. The team desperately needed new momentum. It became obvious that the Islanders were trying to escape the group of teams at the bottom of the standings playing for a lottery pick every year.

After pushing the Pittsburgh Penguins to six games in 2013, the Islanders proved to the hockey world they had potential and could be a future playoff team. So after the team regressed in 2014, it was clear a move needed to be made.

Right before the 2014-15 season, the Islanders made a blockbuster deal acquiring two former Stanley cup champion defensemen in the same day: Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk. Both the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins were looking to clear cap space, and the Islanders desperately needed defense.

Johnny Boychuk’s arrival to the New York Islanders fit like a glove. Johnny Boychuk was someone who embodied everything an organization could ever ask for: someone who played hard every single night, a team player, a leader in the locker room, and a class act off the ice. The Islanders were a laughing stock at Boychuk’s arrival, and Boychuk helped bring stature to the franchise.

The context of this trade is ever so important. When the trade occurred in 2014, Johnny Boychuk was leaving a contending team. He left the Boston Bruins who just won the President’s Trophy the prior season, and went to the Final the year before. Boychuk was entering an organization that was in utter turmoil, that had ownership, management, and coaching problems.

Boychuk brought something that had been missing from the Islanders organization for a very long time: success. He brought winning experience. He knew what it took to get to the top of the mountain. Boychuk was a glimpse of light in a period of darkness for the Islanders.

Right from the start, Boychuk was sensational for the New York Islanders. He quarterbacked the Islanders powerplay and continued his trademarked nickname “Johnny Rocket.” Quite remarkably, he immediately made his presence known to the team off the start, scoring in his first game for the Islanders.

When Boychuk arrived in New York, the Islanders only had won two playoff games in the past six seasons. In the next six seasons, the Islanders made the playoffs four times, winning 25 playoff games and coming as close as two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final in 2020. The success following Boychuk’s arrival was not an accident. Boychuk helped transform the culture in the organization. Boychuk embraced the game’s challenge, embodied the character of a winner, and always played for the logo on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back.

On behalf of all Islanders fans, thank you, Johnny, for bringing glory back to Long Island.

Ethan Halle

Ethan is an Economics Major at the University of Florida looking to pursue a double major in Sports Management with a minor in political science.