The plan, Thomas Hickey says, was to play this season. The former Islanders defenseman talked with MSG Networks over the summer about a potential role on TV and thought it might be interesting, but he fully intended to play.

Even after a professional tryout contract with the Devils ended without New Jersey signing him, there were still options for Hickey in Europe. It was only then, faced with the prospect of playing overseas, that Hickey decided to explore the option of working with MSG.

“As I was going through my options trying to figure it out, they offered me an audition and I thought, ‘OK, I still do intend to play, but I’ll try this on and see if I like it,’” Hickey told The Post recently over the phone. “I really enjoyed it, and over the next week or 10 days, things started to pick up and I realized it could be a fit because it’s something I was interested in. But not really as a hobby. More so as a career.”

Things came together quickly, and Hickey officially joined the Islanders broadcast team in late October as a studio analyst. There isn’t an exact number of games he’s scheduled to work this season, he said, but it should be between 40 and 50 as Hickey and A.J. Mleczko split the role alongside Shannon Hogan.