After the Islanders sent down Isaiah George in January, the path back looked pretty clear for the 21-year-old defenseman.

Play well in Bridgeport the rest of the year. Use his 33 games of NHL experience to help put together a strong training camp. Win a spot on the left side of the third pair, which would suddenly be wide open with Mike Reilly, Scott Perunovich and Adam Boqvist all on expiring deals.

The Islanders winning the draft lottery and using the No. 1 pick to draft lefty defenseman Matthew Schaefer threw a wrench into things.

So did new GM Mathieu Darche re-signing Boqvist, a righty who can play both sides. So did bringing back Tony DeAngelo, a righty, and signing Ethan Bear, another righty, on a two-way deal — making the idea of George switching sides to play in the NHL a far less necessary thing for the club to consider.