The last few days had felt something like the end for Cal Clutterbuck on Long Island and with it, perhaps the end of an era.

Every press conference featured an answer on what the 34-year old meant to the group. Everything he did on the ice carried the weight of the impending trade deadline. When the Islanders insisted on Sunday that Clutterbuck and Andy Greene were scratched in Philadelphia for maintenance, not asset management, it felt a little bit like everyone in the room was in on the joke.

But as 3 p.m. passed on Monday, the Islanders were quiet. And as the clock hit 4 p.m., general manager Lou Lamoriello announced on a call with the media that Clutterbuck had signed a two-year extension, with Zach Parise signing a one-year deal. Clutterbuck’s will be for $1.75 million average annual value, while Parise will make $1.5 million, per The Post’s Mollie Walker.

Both Clutterbuck and Parise said things came together over the last week or so, with Parise saying he had discussed a two-year deal last summer, giving him confidence he’d be returning.

“This organization is home for me,” said Clutterbuck, an Islander since 2013.

Instead of viewing the deadline as a seller — a term Lamoriello was sure to mention that he hates — the Islanders wanted to get better through hockey trades, he said. That speaks to the day’s overarching point: From management on down, the Islanders still believe they’re much closer to contention than their record indicates.

In practice, that meant keeping Clutterbuck, as well as goaltender Semyon Varlamov, bringing back Parise and operating as though this year’s struggles are more a result of circumstance than a fundamental flaw in the roster.

“The players that we have here right now and the core players that we have and the people who are not having a good year, this will give them an opportunity to get back where they think they should be,” Lamoriello said. “But as far as the fans this is without question an indication to them that we believe in the group.”

That doesn’t mean the Islanders will necessarily roll it back with the same exact roster in 2022-23 — Lamoriello indicated he wasn’t happy with the production from his forward group, and could see the prudence in adding a defenseman — but it does seem likely that the core will remain intact. Keeping Clutterbuck, in particular, is representative of that.

“Honestly, I owe a lot to [Matt Martin] and Casey [Cizikas], who have been beside me for the majority of this time,” Clutterbuck said. “Long enough that I don’t really have any vivid memories of playing NHL hockey without either one of them or both of them.”

Lamoriello said he didn’t view it as keeping the Identity Line intact, but in practice, that’s what it was. Over the weekend, the Islanders spoke about sending a message to management with their recent play — getting points in six straight before falling flat in a loss to the Flyers on Sunday. Their group is closely knit. Clutterbuck and the Identity Line are very much a part of why.

“He means a lot,” Cizikas said Sunday. “He wears a letter for a reason. He’s a vocal guy and guys listen when he speaks.”

This would all be a feel-good story, if not for the inconvenient truth of the Islanders’ record. Lamoriello knows that, even with what transpired away from the ice this season that hurt the team, and even with their play reaching another level recently, this isn’t good enough.

As the deadline approached, Lamoriello said, he looked for hockey trades. During the offseason, it seems like he’ll continue to do so.

“We have to see where our core players are at and that no player is solidified in anything,” Lamoriello said. “Certainly we have core players in our mind that we don’t speak to. … I don’t think we’re gonna get better by just adding a player. We’re gonna get better by making hockey trades.”

With that in mind, consider the next five weeks something of an extended tryout.

“It appears that it was just a stand pat because we’re satisfied,” Lamoriello said. “We are certainly not satisfied.

“I certainly like the way our team has played over the last several games. I think this is also going to be an indication of exactly where we’re at now that we’ve gotten [over] all the turbulence that we went through — and I’m not looking for any excuses whatsoever — to see who we are as a team and really give us an indication of what we have to do.”