Matt Moulson Opens Up About Day he was Traded from the Islanders

When the New York Islanders traded Matt Moulson in 2013, the deal sent shockwaves around Islanders and their fans. Moulson had been a fan favorite during his tenure on Long Island and had three 30 goal seasons before he was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Thomas Vanek.

Moulson opened up about the night he had been traded during an interview on Spittin’ Chiclets eight years after it happened. Moulson had a number of his Islanders teammates over to watch football that day and the call from then-general manager Garth Snow came a little after they left that night.

“I told my wife Garth snow is calling me, we got traded,” Matt Moulson recalled. “She was like how do you know? I was like, ‘well the guy’s not calling me at 8 p.m. if I didn’t get traded.’ … Garth was like, ‘we just traded you,’ and I was like to where? He’s like Buffalo and they were in last place. I hung up the phone.”

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It marked the first time that Moulson spoke in such detail about the night he had been traded from the Islanders. He had six goals and three assists in the Isles’ first 11 games that season.

“I just hung up,” Moulson responded when asked if he said anything to Snow after he got the news. “I was (expletive) pissed. My wife was crying. That team to this day is still tight and I believe is cause of the group we had coming up during then.”

Matt Moulson had been on the final year of a three-year contract extension the season he was traded. Despite reports that Moulson’s demands for a new deal might have been too high, he denied that was the case.

In fact, Moulson said that his agent and Garth Snow had never discussed money.

“It had nothing to do with money,” Moulson said. “I remember getting so angry at this because there were reports saying oh he wanted this much. My agent never talked to Garth Snow, not one time, upcoming to that last year of my deal and being a free agent, not one time did they talk about money. I was never approached about it, nothing.”

Moulson has remained a fan favorite on Long Island.

He made an appearance at the Nassau Coliseum in the spring during Game 4 between the Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. A line around the concourse formed as fans stopped to say hello and take pictures with Moulson.