NY Islanders Matthew Schaefer Focused on Building Successful, Storied Career

Matthew Schaefer has some major expectations for himself and the New York Islanders.

Oct 16, 2025; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For the New York Islanders and Matthew Schaefer, it's fairly safe to say the budding young defenseman made quite the impression in his first year in the NHL.

Schaefer was the 2025-26 recipient of the Calder Memorial Trophy — the award annually presented to “the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the NHL." Schaefer was selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association members at the conclusion of the most recent regular season.

His selection for the Calder Trophy marked the first unanimous choice for the award in 33 years; all 198 ballots went to the Islanders' rookie. If all of this wasn't enough, at 18 years and 223 days on the final day of the regular season, Schaefer is now the youngest winner of the award in NHL history.

In addition to achieving the biggest accolade honoring those in their first year of League competition, Schaefer was also bestowed the honor due to his having a record-breaking rookie campaign in which he registered 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists) over 82 games.

The Hamilton, Ontario native also led all rookies in average time on ice, power-play goals (8), and shots on goal (222), while tying for first in goals and overtime goals (2).

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Dave McCarthy of NHL.com recently interviewed Schaefer on the youngster's success following going No. 1 overall at the 2025 NHL Draft.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” Schaefer said to NHL.com on if he reached his goals throughout his rookie season. “You don’t think of anything like that coming into the season. I just wanted to make the team, I took it step by step. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself. I wanted to get drafted and I was able to go to such an amazing team like the Islanders, and it just speaks volumes about how amazing they are as a team and the people that have gone through the organization. But my thought process was just the draft and then to rookie camp and then to main camp, and I just tried to get better every day and improve so when that first game hits, I wanted to be in that opening night roster.”

Nov 8, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (48) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In addition, Schaefer has said that a number of his Islanders teammates helped him surpass his expectations for himself in the midst of his first year in the League.

“You want to play in the NHL, it’s the best League in the world with the best players in the world,” Schaefer also said. “I took it step by step there and then as I went through season, my teammates helped me so much to achieve all those things, but at the end of the day, it’s not just me achieving those things, it’s our whole team because they’re the ones who helped me so much.”

Schaefer also set NHL records for the most points by an 18-year-old defenseman, average time on ice by an 18-year-old skater (24:41) and the most overtime points (with four) by a teenage defenseman. He added another notable milestone on March 24, logging 31:59 of ice time, the most in a single game by any NHL teenager since the statistic began being tracked.

But while Schaefer accomplished plenty, he already has his sights on the future — his heart is set on the playoffs next season.

“You want to win the Stanley Cup, that’s the biggest thing. Making playoffs is a good start, but we just have to think about the start of the season and have a great start so you can keep it going so that by the end of the season, we’re in the playoffs and then we can focus on that," Schaefer said on what his expectations are for next season.