{"id":555749,"date":"2026-04-19T04:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555749\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T04:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:31:08","slug":"matthew-schaefers-long-term-islanders-impact-goes-beyond-his-eye-popping-rookie-stats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555749\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Schaefer\u2019s long-term Islanders impact goes beyond his eye-popping rookie stats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brayden Schenn<\/a> had played in the Western Conference all year and thus, didn\u2019t quite realize what the Islanders had in Matthew Schaefer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tony DeAngelo<\/a> hadn\u2019t paid attention to the draft, joking he knew more about the Russian prospects than the North American ones.<\/p>\n

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Adam Pelech<\/a> had trained with Schaefer a little bit over the summer, so he had a pretty good idea that there wasn\u2019t much question Schaefer would make the team, or even that he would contribute right away.<\/p>\n

But no one truly knew what he was going to do this season, and what he would come to mean to the Islanders so soon into his career.<\/p>\n

\"<aNew York Islanders<\/a> defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) shoots during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> at UBS Arena, Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing completely honest, you think you\u2019re signing up for a guy that\u2019s just gonna be an offensive rover that is dynamic,\u201d Schenn said at breakup day last week. \u201cHe does that. But I can\u2019t believe the way he defends and how much he cares, he wants to win. When you see that from an 18-year-old, this organization\u2019s in a special spot for a long time because of him. Guys around the league are gonna gravitate towards this organization because it is that good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Islanders\u2019 season must be judged a failure<\/a> because of the way they crashed out of a playoff spot, losing 10 of their last 14 to finish a second straight season in the lottery. The franchise\u2019s long-term fortunes, though, could not have turned more positively over the last year, and so much of it because of Schaefer, whose wondrous season made it seem like the sky is the limit for his career.<\/p>\n

Schaefer set record after record<\/a>. He finished the season with 23 goals \u2014 tied for the most by a rookie defenseman in league history \u2014 and 59 points. He is a runaway favorite for the Calder Trophy \u2014 the only question is whether he wins it unanimously.<\/p>\n

To fully understand his impact on the Islanders, though, you have to understand his personality, too.<\/p>\n

So start with his answer on breakup day when asked what he learned about himself this season:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think I\u2019ve always wanted sisters,\u201d Schaefer said.<\/p>\n

That would be a reference to Matt Martin\u2019s family<\/a>. The former Islander and current assistant to Mathieu Darche and his wife Sydney Esiason Martin took in Schaefer<\/a> this season \u2014 and it sounds like doing so again next year is very much in the cards. Schaefer quickly got close with their twin daughters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the only people that really bossed me around are those two girls,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cThey kind of own me in a way. Whether it\u2019s painting nails, going out to play, they\u2019re yelling at me and stuff. And then I always kiss up to them and I\u2019m like, \u2018OK, I\u2019ll come. I\u2019ll come.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\"MatthewMatthew Schaefer (48) celebrates after he scores during the third period of a game against the Florida Panthers<\/a> at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. on Sunday, March 1, 2026. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post<\/p>\n

His effervescence and ease seemed to seep through the whole organization, at least when things were going well this season. Though it\u2019s unlikely to be soon, it\u2019s obvious that Schaefer will be the Islanders\u2019 captain eventually.<\/p>\n

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Long term, the impact he can have on the Islanders seems comparable to the way Sidney Crosby<\/a> changed the Penguins. Indeed, here\u2019s how one of Crosby\u2019s teammates talked about him toward the end of his rookie season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best players in the league right now, at 18,\u201d Ryan Whitney<\/a> said at the time, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. \u201cYou can only imagine what he\u2019ll be like four years down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four years later, Crosby was a Stanley Cup champion, a Hart Trophy winner and an Olympic gold medalist.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Islanders left wing Emil Heineman<\/a> (51) celebrates with New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) after he scores the game winning goal during shoot out at UBS Arena, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n

Different versions of the same quote were dotted throughout the Islanders\u2019 season. Again and again it came up on breakup day.<\/p>\n

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Anders Lee<\/a>: \u201cIt felt like he had the league figured out in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cal Ritchie: \u201cI mean, he\u2019s not really a rookie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mat Barzal<\/a>: \u201cMy whole career I\u2019ve been jealous of Colorado<\/a> [with Cale Makar<\/a>] and Quinn Hughes<\/a> in Vancouver<\/a>. To finally have our guy, it\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighty-two games into his career, there\u2019s still so much untapped potential, too. Schaefer can put on more muscle, better equip himself to get through the rigors of a long season. As good as he was this season, his age means he\u2019s still got years left to improve all facets of his game. Four years from now, he\u2019ll only be entering his physical peak.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s all but guaranteed that Hockey Canada will ask Schaefer to play at the World Championships next month in Switzerland, and he sounded open to doing so at breakup day. Otherwise, it\u2019ll be a light summer, at least in comparison to a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was all over the place last summer and I couldn\u2019t stay at home for a week, at least,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a good summer because there\u2019s lots of things I want to get better at. Just off the ice being able to get stronger. I\u2019m pretty skinny so the more I eat, the more I can get in the gym and work out, I think the better for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019ll be a really good summer for me being able to go back, take a break, see family, friends, maybe go on a little vacation. But then you get training and you\u2019re focused on next season. And a lot of things you want to accomplish as a team next season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brayden Schenn had played in the Western Conference all year and thus, didn\u2019t quite realize what the Islanders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5550,8493,7622,1287,1116,29,192,3427,57,5,122,3950,374,3328,159,5190,5189,4,1496,5336,768,4937,5891,893],"class_list":{"0":"post-555749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-islanders","8":"tag-adam-pelech","9":"tag-anders-lee","10":"tag-barzal","11":"tag-brayden-schenn","12":"tag-cale-makar","13":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","14":"tag-colorado","15":"tag-emil-heineman","16":"tag-florida-panthers","17":"tag-hockey","18":"tag-islanders","19":"tag-matt-martin","20":"tag-matthew-schaefer","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-islanders","23":"tag-newyork","24":"tag-newyorkislanders","25":"tag-nhl","26":"tag-quinn-hughes","27":"tag-ryan-whitney","28":"tag-sidney-crosby","29":"tag-the-islanders","30":"tag-tony-deangelo","31":"tag-vancouver"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116429499202072602","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555749","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=555749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}