In July of 2018, the New York Islanders reached a four-year agreement with Thomas Hickey. This came just hours after John Tavares left for the Toronto Maple Leafs, so it wasn't something that got a lot of attention but at only $2.5 million AAV it wasn't a bad deal at the time.
Hickey was coming off a career year with 25 points (5 goals, 20 assists) in 69 games. For six straight years, Hickey was a solid third pair option whether it was with Lubomir Visnovsky or whichever other rotational player the Islanders paired him with in the later years, he was pretty reliable.