Islanders’ No. 1 choose Matthew Schaefer pays tribute to late mom with a kiss and a promise
LOS ANGELES — After Matthew Schaefer pulled the blue-and-orange sweater over his head on the NHL draft, his eyes already glistening with tears, he glanced down at his left shoulder and noticed a pink ribbon.
The image of breast most cancers consciousness was the New York Islanders’ tribute to his mom, Jennifer, who died of the illness simply 16 months in the past.
The No. 1 choose kissed the ribbon and modestly pointed to the sky, paying a poignant tribute to the girl who raised this boy into the person he’ll quickly develop into — and who will accompany him on each step of his vibrant hockey future.
The Islanders chosen the gifted 17-year-old defenseman first total Friday night time, kicking off an NHL draft with a ravishing second felt throughout the breadth of the game.
“I recognize you taking an opportunity on me,” Schaefer mentioned in a video convention name with the Islanders’ entrance workplace. “I promise I received’t disappoint, however particularly I simply need to say to my mother and all my household and mates, thanks for every part.”
Excessive-scoring ahead Michael Misa went second total to the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks took Swedish ahead Anton Frondell third on the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The Islanders maneuvered their means into three picks within the prime 17, however they stunned no person through the use of their first No. 1 choice since 2009 on Schaefer. The 6-foot-2 blueliner from Hamilton, Ontario, with distinctive puck-moving capability and powerful defensive expertise spent the previous two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, rising into an irresistible alternative for the highest choose.
Schaefer persevered by means of tragedy to succeed in this second. Together with the lack of his mom, he additionally endured the latest deaths of the Otters’ proprietor, Jim Waters, and the mom of his billet household.
The Islanders added the ribbon patch to the ceremonial jersey particularly for Schaefer, alongside together with his mom’s initials on the sweater collar.
“Seeing the ribbon on my jersey, and I noticed an image, it has J.S. on my again right here,” Schaefer mentioned. “You may see simply how high-class the group is. It actually means rather a lot. I want my mother may very well be right here in the present day. Clearly, she’s with me right here in spirit. … Most cancers sucks, and it’s not enjoyable. She didn’t really feel the perfect, however she was all the time the happiest within the household. She would do something for us.”
Schaefer scored 22 factors whereas enjoying in solely 17 video games final season earlier than breaking his collarbone in December. His acumen on each ends of the ice nonetheless propelled him to the highest of practically all draft boards.
Schaefer is simply the fifth defenseman picked No. 1 total within the NHL draft since 2000, and the primary since Owen Energy went to Buffalo in 2021. Schaefer is also the second Erie product to go No. 1, becoming a member of Connor McDavid in 2015.
“Before everything, we drafted him as a result of he’s an unbelievable hockey participant,” Isles normal supervisor Mathieu Darche mentioned. “Clearly, the human being is outstanding. (For) a 17-year-old to have that resilience, maturity with every part that he’s gone by means of is past spectacular, truthfully. I haven’t met many 17-year-old children that act like him. However on the finish of the day, we’re drafting him as a result of he’s a hell of a hockey participant.”
Schaefer bought two new teammates when the Islanders used the sixteenth choose on Swedish ahead Victor Eklund and nabbed defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson with the seventeenth choice.
Each Pennsylvania groups additionally had been busy in Los Angeles. The Philadelphia Flyers grabbed ahead Porter Martone sixth total earlier than buying and selling up for the twelfth choice to get ahead Jack Nesbitt, whereas the Pittsburgh Penguins maneuvered up and down the draft to manage three picks within the prime 24, swinging two trades whereas drafting forwards Benjamin Kindel, Invoice Zonnon and William Horcoff.
Misa tore up the OHL final season because the captain of the Saginaw Spirit, scoring 62 targets and 134 factors in simply 65 video games. Whereas sporting a teal jersey for the primary time, he repeated his need to play within the NHL subsequent season if he can crack the roster of a struggling Sharks group that selected Will Smith fourth total in 2023 and bought middle Macklin Celebrini with the primary total choose a yr in the past.
“He’s an ultra-competitive child who’s been enjoying up a degree, up a delivery yr his entire life,” Sharks normal supervisor Mike Grier mentioned about Misa. “He desires to be the perfect. He desires to play towards the perfect, so I’m positive that is what he desires to do, however we’re not going handy him something. He’s bought to come back into coaching camp and attempt to take a job.”
Frondell excelled as a 17-year-old ahead final season with Djurgården in Sweden’s second division, displaying off a two-way sport that allowed him to push Misa on some draft boards. At 6-2, he may present a big complement to Connor Bedard.
Frondell is the eighth Swedish participant to be a top-three choice, becoming a member of elite firm together with Victor Hedman, Mats Sundin and the Sedin twins.
Middle Caleb Desnoyers went fourth to the Utah Mammoth, who moved up 10 spots within the draft lottery.
The Nashville Predators selected bodily ahead Brady Martin with the fifth choose earlier than buying and selling up for the twenty first choice to get Kitchener defenseman Cameron Reid. Martin skipped the draft, staying house on his household farm in Ontario.
Followers of the host Los Angeles Kings contained in the theater bought fired up for his or her membership to make the twenty fourth choice — which the Kings promptly traded to Pittsburgh for the thirty first and 59th picks, prompting groans from the group. Los Angeles ultimately selected defenseman Henry Brzustewicz from the Memorial Cup champion London Knights normally supervisor Ken Holland’s first choice for his new workforce.
The Penguins created nearly all of the surprises within the first spherical, first by selecting Calgary Hitmen middle Kindel with the eleventh choose — a lot increased than many prognosticators anticipated.
Pittsburgh then traded the twelfth choose, which initially belonged to the New York Rangers, to Philadelphia for the twenty second and thirty first picks. The Flyers wished the 6-foot-4 Nesbitt, a fast-rising middle from the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires final season.
The Penguins additionally gave a second-round choose to the Kings and swapped first-rounders so they might transfer up for Horcoff — the son of NHL veteran Shawn Horcoff — with the twenty fourth choose.
The Anaheim Geese took an opportunity on ahead Roger McQueen with the tenth choice. The 6-foot-5 McQueen is broadly thought to have sufficient expertise to develop into an elite middle, however the Saskatchewan native has been slowed by a again harm that scared off some groups.
Two goalies had been chosen within the first spherical for the primary time since 2021 and solely the third time in 13 years. Columbus grabbed Russia’s Pyotr Andreyanov with the twentieth choose, making him the highest-picked European goalie in fourth years, whereas San Jose added goalie Joshua Ravensbergen with the thirtieth choice.
The Boston Bruins used the seventh total choose on Boston Faculty middle James Hagens, the consensus prime prospect for this draft a yr in the past.
Hagens, a Lengthy Island native coveted by many Islanders followers, slid down the board simply sufficient to succeed in the Bruins, whose choose was introduced by a video of Adam Sandler in character as Comfortable Gilmore, full together with his signature Bruins jersey.
“I’m so excited to be again in Boston, and to have Adam Sandler make the choose, that was particular,” mentioned Hagens, who cites “Comfortable Gilmore” as his favourite film. “I like to win, and I’m actually glad that I’m in Boston.”
The Islanders received the lottery to select first in a draft that’s full of expertise — whereas lacking just a few staples of latest drafts.
There was no prohibitive lock of a No. 1 choose on this area, in contrast to the previous two drafts, though Schaefer clearly got here out on prime.
The draft additionally lacked the centralized construction that has lengthy been a staple of this annual train. The 32 groups’ numerous executives are principally at house, not strewn throughout the draft flooring. Nearly all of the picks had been taken to a video room simply behind the stage to alternate televised pleasantries with their new entrance workplaces by means of video conferencing.
Whereas evaluations of the brand new format appeared largely destructive from tv viewers and followers, many hockey executives praised the format afterward.