Matt Martin reuniting with young daughter after Islanders’ ouster

In the summer of 2018 after his second season with the Maple Leafs, Matt Martin sat down to have a conversation with his future father-in-law, Boomer Esiason.

The lively WFAN radio host’s phone buzzed. It was a longtime friend of his, Brendan Shanahan, the president of the Maple Leafs. He wanted to let Esiason know that Martin was everything he could have hoped for in a player, and he had a class act for a potential son-in-law.

“And then Brendan sent me back he goes, ‘Look, we’ll send him to wherever he wants to go. If he wants to go to the Rangers, we’ll send him to the Rangers. If he wants to go to the Islanders, we’ll send him back to the Islanders. That’s how much respect we have for him and that’s what we’d like to do for him,’ ” Esiason told The Post on a phone call Friday afternoon.

It had been just a few months since the Rangers sent out a letter pleading with fans to be patient during the upcoming rebuild. And as much as Esiason, a longtime in-your-face Rangers fan, wanted to see a future part of his family pull on a red, white and blue sweater, he only could think of what was best for Martin.

Said Esiason: “I told Matt, ‘As much as I want to see you in a Rangers uniform, now is not the time. If you can get back with Cal [Clutterbuck] and Casey [Cizikas] I think that’s probably your best situation right now because you’re beloved by your fan base here. Maybe they didn’t understand you in Toronto, or [former Maple Leafs coach Mike] Babcock didn’t understand you in Toronto, whatever the situation may be. But you’re here and you’re coming home and you can reunite with two of your best buddies. And Lou [Lamoriello] was going to bring in a coach who is going to try to get you guys to win right now.’

“I think it was pretty easy for Matt to say he wanted to go back to the Islanders and play with his buddies.”

And so in July 2018, Martin was traded back to the Islanders and back to where his home had been for the first seven seasons of his NHL career. Now, the 31-year-old left winger is traveling home again, but this time back from the longest playoff run of his career as the Islanders came two wins away from qualifying for the Stanley Cup Finals.

It was also the most impressive playoff performance of Martin’s 11-year NHL career, as he collected five goals and an assist in 22 games, while leading the league in hits with 103. He became one of five players since 1997-98 to record five goals and 100-plus hits in a single playoff year, joining Tom Wilson, Dustin Brown, Milan Lucic and Eric Cole.

Set to become an unrestricted free agent next season, Martin prepared during the near three-month long hiatus from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown to prove himself. He treated every day as if the next day he was going to be back on the ice playing. From the rowing machine, the Peloton and running on the streets, Esiason said Martin worked out like a maniac.

But to Martin’s wife and Esiason’s daughter, Sydney, he didn’t have anything to prove. To her, he always has been the player the hockey world got a glimpse of this postseason.

It was sometime in May or June when official word of the NHL’s plans for bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton got back to the Martins. Sydney realized she would probably have to say goodbye to her husband roughly two weeks after Winnie was born.

But there were no conversations to be had. It was a mutual understanding that this was the hand they were dealt in 2020.

“We both didn’t really talk about it, we kind of just accepted that that’s what was going to happen and the way Matt is, and kind of how I am too, we know it’s his job,” she said. “That’s how we’re going to provide for our daughter and our family. We didn’t really get emotional about it because we were both just kind of like, ‘This is what has to be done. 2020 sucks for everyone and this is our situation.’ ”

Sydney was thankful Winnie was born before Matt headed to the Toronto bubble, while not all the Islanders’ wives were as fortunate. Leo Komarov’s wife, Juulia, gave birth to their son just hours before the Islanders’ overtime loss in Game 6 Thursday night.

But it has been the community of Islanders wives and girlfriends who have helped Sydney get through the longest time she’s ever been away from Matt.

“We would FaceTime in between periods constantly and talking to each other just checking in,” Sydney said. “It was nice to have that support and when you talk to other people, friends that don’t really understand, it’s hard to explain the scenario that you’re in. When we have each other, it’s really helpful.”

The toughest moment for Sydney was watching Matt say goodbye to Winnie. She said she wouldn’t consider herself and Matt to be emotional people, especially when she drove him to the rink before he left and treated it as any other game-day drop off, but she could tell saying good-bye to his baby girl hurt him.

In the beginning, she was extremely preoccupied with the craziness of taking care of a newborn. But once the Islanders lost in overtime Thursday night and were set to come home, Sydney said the emotions of everything came crashing down.

Nevertheless, with help from her friends and family, Sydney got through it. Esiason had to work in Manhattan for a majority of the summer and could only make it out one weekend. Sydney said she thought her dad had forgotten how much work it took to take care of a baby.

Esiason couldn’t be more proud to be Winnie’s “Boompa,” though. He only took issue with one possibility.

“If she was going to be paraded around in the Stanley Cup if the Islanders won it, that would’ve made it very difficult on me,” he said. “I just kept talking about how I was rooting for her, and her dad, and it would be a nice moment for the two of them if they were able to share that. But maybe they’ll be able to do that next year for the Rangers. That’d be even better!”