When Patrick Roy put George on the nominal top pair with Noah Dobson ahead of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Senators in Ottawa, the belief was that “nominal” would be the operative word and Roy would likely spend the game rotating his defense pairs and leaning heavily on Dobson, Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock.

George is 20 years, nine months and 21 days old. He is the youngest prospect to debut for the Islanders since Aatu Raty, who debuted at 20 years and 20 days old on Dec. 23, 2022. George is debuting as the youngest defenseman for the Islanders since Noah Dobson.

Sure, he’s a 20-year-old making his NHL debut just five games into his professional career and with his parents in the crowd at UBS Arena. And, sure, Isaiah George, recalled from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport earlier in the day,

Two years and change after the fact, the draft-floor trade that brought Alexander Romanov and a fourth-round pick to the Islanders in exchange for the team’s 2022 first-rounder looks not only like a success,

#Isles Isaiah George's ice-time breakdown in his #NHL debut as he clearly earned trust early in limited minutes in the first, leading to him getting extensive time in the second and third, before getting a shift in overtime: pic.twitter.com/h1H9lKeHya

Remove all the context — the injuries, the Islanders’ record, the desperation inherent in calling up someone with just four professional games under his belt — for just a second, because on Tuesday morning, some nine hours before taking his rookie lap, Isaiah George could not stop beaming.