Islanders select Matthew Schaefer No. 1 at 2025 NHL Draft
June 28 - The New York Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick at the 2025 NHL Draft on Friday afternoon in Los Angeles.
Schaefer, who will turn 18 on Sept. 5, played for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League the past two seasons.
The 6-foot-2, 183-pound Hamilton, Ontario native was limited to 17 games with Erie last season after missing the first nine with mononucleosis and then breaking his right clavicle on Dec. 27 while playing for Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships.
Schaefer was the second-youngest player on Canada's World Junior roster, two months older than forward Gavin McKenna, who isn't eligible until the 2026 NHL Draft.
The day before he was injured, Schaefer scored an empty-net goal and had an assist in Canada's 4-0 victory against Finland in the tournament opener.
Schaefer lost his mother, Jennifer, to breast cancer in February 2024, two months after his billet mother, Emily Matson, died in an apparent suicide.
Despite having the 10th-best chance of winning the draft lottery at 3.5 percent, the Islanders landed the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft last month, the first time since drafting John Tavares No. 1 overall in 2009.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was slated to announce the first-round picks for the first time since he took over the position in 1993. This year also marked the first time team staffs did not attend the draft, but rather participated from their home cities.
"The clubs asked for this," Bettman said in February. "I wasn't looking for any more exposure. I have more than enough. But this is what the clubs told us they wanted, and we're going to try it. And we'll see after this year whether or not everybody likes it better."
--Field Level Media
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
NHL draft: Islanders select Matthew Schaefer with No 1 overall pick during emotional ceremony
The New York Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No 1 pick in the NHL draft on Friday night. High-scoring forward Michael Misa went second overall to the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks took Swedish forward Anton Frondell third at the ceremony in Los Angeles' Peacock Theater. The Islanders maneuvered their way into three picks in the top 17, but they surprised nobody by using their first No 1 selection since 2009 on the 17-year-old Schaefer. The 6ft 2in blueliner from Hamilton, Ontario, with exceptional puck-moving ability and strong defensive skills spent the past two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League's Erie Otters. Schaefer persevered through tragedy to reach this moment. When he pulled on his Islanders sweater for the first time on the stage, he kissed a pink ribbon patch on the chest representing breast cancer awareness before breaking into tears and pointing to the sky. Schaefer's mother, Jennifer, died of cancer 16 months ago. He also endured the recent deaths of the Otters' owner, Jim Waters, and the mother of his billet family. 'I appreciate you taking a chance on me,' Schaefer said in a video conference call with the Islanders' front office. 'I promise I won't disappoint, but especially I just want to say to my mom and all my family and friends, thanks for everything.' The Islanders added the patch specifically for Schaefer, along with his mother's initials on the sweater collar. 'Seeing the ribbon on my jersey, and I saw a picture, it has JS on my back here,' Schaefer said. 'You can see just how high-class the organization is. It really means a lot. I wish my mom could be here today. Obviously, she's with me here in spirit ... Cancer sucks, and it's not fun. She didn't feel the best, but she was always the happiest in the family. She would do anything for us.' Schaefer scored 22 points while playing in only 17 games last season before breaking his collarbone in December. His acumen on both ends of the ice still propelled him to the top of nearly all draft boards. Schaefer is just the fifth defenseman picked No 1 overall since 2000, and the first since Owen Power went to Buffalo in 2021. Schaefer also is the second Erie product to go No 1, joining Connor McDavid in 2015. 'First and foremost, we drafted him because he's an unbelievable hockey player,' Isles general manager Mathieu Darche said. 'Obviously, the human being is exceptional. [For] a 17-year-old to have that resilience, maturity with everything that he's gone through is beyond impressive, honestly. I haven't met many 17-year-old kids that act like him. But at the end of the day, we're drafting him because he's a hell of a hockey player.' Schaefer got two new teammates when the Islanders used the 16th pick on Swedish forward Victor Eklund and nabbed defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson with the 17th selection. Both Pennsylvania teams were busy in Los Angeles. The Philadelphia Flyers grabbed forward Porter Martone sixth overall before trading up for the 12th selection to get forward Jack Nesbitt, while the Pittsburgh Penguins maneuvered up and down the draft to control three picks in the top 24, swinging two trades while drafting forwards Benjamin Kindel, Bill Zonnon and William Horcoff. Misa tore up the OHL last season as the captain of the Saginaw Spirit, scoring 62 goals and 134 points in just 65 games. While wearing a teal jersey for the first time, he repeated his desire to play in the NHL next season if he can crack the roster of a struggling Sharks organization that chose Will Smith fourth overall in 2023 and got center Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick a year ago. 'He's an ultra-competitive kid who's been playing up a level, up a birth year his whole life,' Sharks general manager Mike Grier said about Misa. 'He wants to be the best. He wants to play against the best, so I'm sure this is what he wants to do, but you know we're not going to hand him anything. He's got to come into training camp and try and take a job.' Frondell excelled as a 17-year-old forward last season with Djurgården in Sweden's second division, showing off a two-way game that allowed him to push Misa on some draft boards. At 6ft 2in, he could provide a large complement to Connor Bedard. Frondell is the eighth Swedish player to be a top-three selection, joining elite company including Victor Hedman, Mats Sundin and the Sedin twins. Center Caleb Desnoyers went fourth to the Utah Mammoth, who moved up 10 spots in the draft lottery. The Nashville Predators chose physical forward Brady Martin with the fifth pick before trading up for the 21st selection to get Kitchener defenseman Cameron Reid. Martin skipped the draft, staying home on his family farm in Ontario. Fans of the host Los Angeles Kings inside the theater got fired up for their club to make the 24th selection – which the Kings promptly traded to Pittsburgh for the 31st and 59th selections, prompting groans from the crowd. Los Angeles eventually chose defenseman Henry Brzustewicz from the Memorial Cup champion London Knights in general manager Ken Holland's first selection for his new team. The Penguins created the majority of the surprises in the first round, first by choosing Calgary Hitmen center Kindel with the 11th pick – much higher than many prognosticators expected. Pittsburgh then traded the 12th pick, which originally belonged to the New York Rangers, to Philadelphia for the 22nd and 31st picks. The Flyers wanted the 6ft 4in Nesbitt, a fast-rising center from the OHL's Windsor Spitfires last season. The Penguins also gave a second-round pick to the Kings and swapped first-rounders so they could move up for Horcoff – the son of NHL veteran Shawn Horcoff – with the 24th pick. The Anaheim Ducks took a chance on forward Roger McQueen with the 10th selection. The 6ft 5in McQueen is widely thought to have enough talent to become an elite center, but the Saskatchewan native has been slowed by a back injury that scared off some teams. Two goalies were chosen in the first round for the first time since 2021 and only the third time in 13 years. Columbus grabbed Russia's Pyotr Andreyanov with the 20th pick, making him the highest-picked European goalie in fourth years, while San Jose added goalie Joshua Ravensbergen with the 30th selection. The Boston Bruins used the seventh overall pick on Boston College center James Hagens, the consensus top prospect for this draft a year ago. Hagens, a Long Island native coveted by many Islanders fans, slid down the board just enough to reach the Bruins, whose pick was announced by a video of Adam Sandler in character as Happy Gilmore, complete with his signature Bruins jersey. 'I'm so excited to be back in Boston, and to have Adam Sandler make the pick, that was special,' said Hagens, who cites Happy Gilmore as his favorite movie. 'I love to win, and I'm really glad that I'm in Boston.' The Islanders won the lottery to pick first in a draft that is packed with talent – while missing a few staples of recent drafts. There was no prohibitive lock at No 1, unlike the past two drafts. The draft also lacked the centralized structure that has long been a staple of this annual exercise. The 32 teams' executives are mostly at home, not strewn across the draft floor. The majority of the picks were taken to a video room just behind the stage to exchange televised pleasantries with their new front offices through video conferencing. While reviews of the new format seemed largely negative from television viewers and fans, many hockey executives praised the format afterward.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Makin makes history with PSA Squash Tour Finals title win
British number one Joel Makin has become the first Welsh player to win the PSA Squash Tour Finals after he beat world number one Mostafa Asal at Toronto's Revival Film 30-year-old won the first two games 11-10, 11-7, before Asal, 24, retired from the match due to an ankle injury after the Egyptian went 1-0 behind in the third game. Makin was appearing in the first major PSA final of his career and he has now won the 10th - and biggest - title of his career. It is Makin's second title of the season after also winning the Silicon Valley Open in October 2024."I've just been chipping away, and it's not been a short process, that's for sure," said Makin."It was a really high quality one, the same as last night [against Diego Elias]. We had two really good games, it was frustrating in the third that we didn't get to keep going. "At sudden death again in the first game, it was really high quality. It's upsetting that he [Asal] wasn't right."I'm happy to win, but I want that challenge, I want to win. I want to see how I am against him when he's playing well. "It's been another good week, it wasn't my best stuff in the group stages, but you've just got to keep trying, keep on getting better and come out and bring my best performance on the night."World number one Nouran Gohar of Egypt won the women's trophy after beating world number four Olivia Weaver of the United States 11-10, 9-11, 11-8, PSA Squash Tour Finals brings the curtain down on the PSA Squash Tour campaign, with the 2025-26 season set to begin in August.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- BBC News
Sanford signs on for fifth Cardiff Devils season
Forward Cole Sanford has committed to a fifth season at Cardiff 29-year-old Canadian has played 267 games so far for the Elite League team, scoring 141 biggest impact came in 2022-23 when he scored 43 goals in all competitions as well as 35 assists for 78 points."Cole is a pure goal-scorer, but he does so much more than that," said Devils managing director Todd Kelman."He kills penalties, he blocks shots, he is one of the hardest working players at both ends of the ice and he is difficult to play against every night."He is also a great playmaker and can break open a game at any time, which he has proven time and time again when we needed him to."
