EDMONTON, Alberta — When Isaiah George was 17, a rookie within the Ontario Hockey League with the London Knights, accidents pressured the teaching workers to maneuver him as much as the highest protection pair.
George had made a superb impression. He labored arduous and had a superb persona. The teaching workers preferred him.
However there was, naturally, some query about how he would deal with the task, which got here in a rivalry recreation at Kitchener.
London ended up dropping, however George opened some eyes within the course of.
“Just being in that barn, nothing really knocks him off,” Dylan Hunter, who coaches defensemen for the Knights, instructed The Submit over the telephone Tuesday. “He’s so steady in that sense. So once you noticed him try this at 17, go in opposition to a prime line — they had been an excellent workforce — with the ability to maintain his personal, we knew we had one thing there.
“Then we were like, all of a sudden, ‘OK, this guy, he could be something. He could be a minutes-eater here.’ He doesn’t really get razzled or frazzled at all.”
The parallels to the state of affairs wherein George finds himself three years later — getting referred to as as much as the Islanders, nearly instantly getting thrown onto the highest pair and thriving — are apparent.
There was little alternative apart from to throw the 20-year-old George into the fireplace, however no one anticipated him to be so unflappable so shortly.
His fourth NHL recreation was Tuesday evening in opposition to the Oilers, and it’s already changing into clear that if he retains it up, the Islanders might want to make room for him within the lineup as soon as they get wholesome.
“I write it down. I tell myself that I can play at this level and be successful,” George instructed The Submit. “So I always had that internal belief and put it in my mind. Definitely looking at the pathway, looking at the direction that most players take, I was definitely surprised to get that opportunity this early.”
What speaks significantly on George is that, requested the place he wanted to enhance most initially of his junior profession, Hunter cites breakouts and transferring the puck.
Now, initially of his NHL profession, it has been George’s capability to flee the defensive zone and transport the puck up ice which has stood out most.
“That’s learned. That’s just a credit to him,” Hunter mentioned. “Some guys are just deceptive like that. He’s really learned what he can do and what he can’t. What he gets away with, obviously, no one could have predicted him being up and doing as well as he has in the first four games. But it’s a good bar for our young guys to see, too, cause you put the work in.”
George, who was nonetheless in search of his first NHL level going into Tuesday evening, is a defensive defenseman and he is aware of it.
Hunter mentioned that final season, when the Knights went to the Memorial Cup, George by no means got here to him asking for power-play minutes, although he might need accommodate him had he executed so.
Fairly, he needed his penalty-kill pair to be the most effective on the workforce. He additionally tailored early to taking part in his off aspect, listening to recommendation that it might swimsuit him nicely within the NHL to have the ability to accomplish that.
“His humility is outstanding,” Hunter mentioned. “Just beyond his years.”
It’s nonetheless exceedingly early in George’s profession, and it’s a matter of time earlier than he seems to be like a rookie within the NHL.
That’s OK and that’s anticipated. However he’s altering the paradigm throughout the group with each profitable shift, forcing all people to account for himself when the near-universal assumption was that he would spend this season adjusting to the AHL.
“Every time I go on the ice, I’ve been trying to earn that next shift and next game,” George mentioned. “So that’s kinda been the mindset. Each time I go out there, I’m trying to earn the next opportunity. That’s been my main focus.”
