If Danny Nelson ends up making it to the NHL, expect a familiar refrain when Islanders games are broadcast nationally: “Nelson, who played defenseman in high school …”

The second-round pick, selected No. 49 overall by the Islanders on Thursday, said in his chat with reporters in Nashville on Thursday that his stint as a defenseman was only for a year and out of necessity for his team. He’s played forward all his life, and plans to do so in college at Notre Dame and, one day, for the Islanders.

When Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson recruited Nelson, though, he would have been happy either way.

“I really felt like he might have a better career up front just because he’s big, rangy, got a good shot, he does some good things offensively,” Jackson told Sports+ over the phone Thursday. “So I was excited about him coming to Notre Dame as a forward, and I told him that. But we also told him we’d take him either way.”