Islanders: Travis Hamonic And The Unfair Standard For Athletes

Some thoughts on former Islanders d-man, Travis Hamonic, and the unfair standard set for athletes.

Travis Hamonic last wore a jersey for the New York Islanders in 2017. Despite leaving the team over three years ago, Hamonic is still to this day one of the most well-liked Islanders from the modern era.

You see, Hamonic originally requested a trade to be closer to home due to family and personal reasons. The request was made in November of 2015, but the Isles kept him through the season as he was very patient with Garth Snow.

In May of 2016, Hamonic rescinded his request as the family member who was ill stabilized. His family has always been an important thing to Travis Hamonic, and ultimately when he was moved in 2017 to Calgary, a western Canada team, it came as no surprise despite the formal rescinding of the trade request.

If you have 15 minutes, this E60 does a good job explaining why family is so important to Travis Hamonic.

The word “Saint” gets thrown around, probably too often, when describing people who go above and beyond for others but I think it’s pretty applicable for Thomas Hamonic. Hamonic is the personification of the word if you ask me.

For the second time in his career, Hamonic decided to make a decision with his family at the forefront of his mind. Travis Hamonic has decided to sit out the return to play for the Calgary Flames.

Hamonic has a young daughter with respiratory problems. He decided not to put his family at risk by playing this year, and I for one respect the hell out of that decision for Hamonic. Unfortunately, not everyone was as receptive.

Sure, I’d say a majority were, but there were some pretty hateful things said that I don’t really wish to share in this article. Instead, I’d like to talk about the unfair standard that athletes are held to.

This is just one of the many aspects that athletes are treated sub-human. To some, they are just robots who were put on this earth to play a game for our entertainment. It’s so much more than that.

This is their profession, they have lives away from the rink, other interests, and sometimes their family needs them. Hamonic is very clearly a man of family and faith and just because he decided he doesn’t want to put his family at risk doesn’t give fans the right to criticize the decision.

Every athlete should have the choice to play this year or not, and if they decide it would make more sense for them to sit this one out then that individual, that person, should have our support.

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If a current Islander decides that they want to sit this one out, whoever that may be, I can promise you that this website will give them support.