Bryan Trottier was doing his best to make it seem everything is all right. You can at least give him that.

“Like everything,” he said, “time has a way of making some of that pain go away.”

The part he left out was time only makes pain go away — partially. Because to say there hasn’t been a trail of hurt feelings between the Islanders and arguably the best player in franchise history, well, that would be disingenuous.

And Trottier, being celebrated Friday night at the Coliseum before the Isles’ 6-3 trouncing of the Penguins, could only go so far in politeness before contradicting his own rose-tinted retrospection.

“I’ve never had a sour thought about the Islanders or the Coliseum or the Long Island fans — ever,” he said. “When you’re hurt, you might think something, but you never say it. Ever.”

Trottier is the Islanders’ all-time leader in points with 1,353, done in 1,123 games played. another franchise best. From 1975-1990, he put up another record, 853 assists, and his 500 goals are second in Isles history only to Mike Bossy’s 573.

But in 1990, he was released from his contract, with neither the four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980-83 — nor the 19 consecutive postseason series won — enough to keep him in good graces. He signed on with the Penguins, and immediately won two more Cups, in 1991 and 1992, while mentoring a young Mario Lemieux.

“It hurt, it was painful,” Trottier said. “But you get over it, because the team I went to was embracing me.” I was having a blast over there. We won a couple Cups together.

“It’s like you break up with a girlfriend, and, oh, you find another girlfriend. It’s awesome, in that sense.”

Trottier then took the 1992-93 season off and joined the Islanders’ front office. Yet after some bad investments — including a fledging hockey academy and ice rink on Long Island — Trottier returned to playing in 1993-94, and ended his career with the Penguins as a shell of his former self.

The animosity remained between Trottier and the Islanders. He served as an assistant coach with Penguins for a while, then did the same with the Avalanche. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, 1997, but didn’t have his number hung in the Coliseum rafters until 2001, well after his teammates from the dynasty years.

“I’ve had horrible thoughts,” Trottier said. “When I look back, I say, ‘Oh, my God,’ but I would never say them publicly. Ever.”

It didn’t help that in 2002, he accepted the job as the head coach of the hated Rangers, a gig that last just 54 games before he was dismissed.

And now? Trottier just got back into the public view, taking a job as an assistant coach on Ted Nolan’s staff in Buffalo.

“It’s fun to reminisce,” Trottier said. “This building has a lot of really fun memories. At times, it feels like you’re almost drowning in those memories.”