{"id":497339,"date":"2026-03-11T00:50:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/497339\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T00:50:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:50:49","slug":"wayne-gretzky-makes-hart-trophy-case-for-ny-islanders-rookie-matthew-schaefer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/497339\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Gretzky makes Hart Trophy case for NY Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">When Wayne Gretzky talks about value in hockey, people tend to listen. So when the Hall of Famer suggested that Matthew Schaefer deserves to be mentioned in the Hart Trophy conversation, fans and pundits around the NHL are sure to take notice.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">Speaking on the NHL on TNT pre-game panel before the New York Islanders faced the St. Louis Blues Tuesday night, Gretzky acknowledged that elite defensemen like Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes still set the standard when it comes to the Norris Trophy. But he pivoted to a different question entirely: value.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">\u201cI\u2019m sitting here thinking, my goodness, would this team be where they are right now without him?\u201d Gretzky said of Schaefer. \u201cWhat about winning the MVP of the league? That\u2019s how good this kid has been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">For a rookie defenseman to even be mentioned in the same breath as Hart Trophy candidates is extraordinary. Yet Schaefer\u2019s impact on the Islanders has been undeniable. His skating, puck movement, and composure have transformed the team\u2019s transition game. His presence hasn&#8217;t just stabilized the Islanders&#8217; blueline; it&#8217;s transformed the trajectory of an organization.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gretzky joined the show to talk about Schenn being traded as well as The Schaefer Effect on Long Island and if he should be in Hart discussion \ud83d\udd25\ud83c\udf34 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W3tizPyobn\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/W3tizPyobn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NHL_On_TNT\/status\/2031512740544598403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">Gretzky\u2019s argument was simple. The Hart Trophy is awarded to the player most valuable to his team\u2014not necessarily the league\u2019s flashiest scorer.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">\u201cTake a step back and say, would the Islanders be where they are today without Schaefer?\u201d Gretzky said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">That perspective is what makes Schaefer\u2019s rookie season so remarkable. The Islanders\u2019 resurgence has coincided with his emergence as arguably their most important player.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">And when the greatest player in hockey history suggests a rookie belongs in the MVP conversation, it\u2019s no longer just a hot take\u2014it\u2019s a statement about how special Matthew Schaefer\u2019s first NHL season has truly been.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Schaefer is a mortal lock for the Calder Trophy, and maybe we should all start thinking about whether he will be a finalist for the biggest prize during the NHL Awards season as well.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Wayne Gretzky talks about value in hockey, people tend to listen. So when the Hall of Famer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-497339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-islanders","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkislanders","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116207808275840261","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}