LOS ANGELES — The New York Islanders chosen gifted defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 decide within the NHL draft Friday evening.
Excessive-scoring heart Michael Misa went second 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 by utilizing their first No. 1 choice since 2009 on the 17-year-old Schaefer. The 6-foot-2 blueliner from Hamilton, Ontario, spent the previous two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters.
He performed solely 17 video games final season — amassing seven objectives and 22 factors — earlier than breaking his collarbone in December, however Schaefer’s acumen on each ends of the ice nonetheless propelled him to the highest of almost all draft boards.
An elite puck mover and good skater with a top-end, two-way transition recreation, Schaefer has nice poise, posture and edges that enable him to not solely carry play from finish to finish however shut rapidly on opponents, shut down the frenzy and be a playmaker in his personal proper.
Schaefer persevered by tragedy to succeed in this milestone. Schaefer’s mom, Jennifer, died of most cancers 16 months in the past, and he additionally endured the latest deaths of the Otters’ proprietor, Jim Waters, and the mom of his billet household.
When Schaefer pulled on his Islanders sweater for the primary time on the stage, he kissed a pink ribbon patch on the chest representing breast most cancers consciousness earlier than breaking into tears.
“I respect you taking an opportunity on me,” Schaefer mentioned in a videoconference name with the Islanders’ entrance workplace. “I promise I will not disappoint, however particularly I simply wish to say to my mother and all my household and associates, thanks for all the things.”
The Islanders added the patch particularly for Schaefer, alongside along with his mom’s initials.
“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 quite a bit. I want my mother may very well be right here at the moment. Clearly, she’s with me right here in spirit. … Most cancers sucks, and it isn’t enjoyable. She did not really feel the perfect, however she was all the time the happiest within the household. She would do something for us.”
Schaefer is simply the fifth defenseman picked No. 1 total within the NHL draft since 2000, and the primary since Owen Power went to Buffalo in 2021. Schaefer is also the second Erie product to go No. 1, becoming a member of Connor McDavid in 2015.
“At first, we drafted him as a result of he is 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 all the things that he is gone by is past spectacular, truthfully. I have not met many 17-year-old youngsters that act like him. However on the finish of the day, we’re drafting him as a result of he is a hell of a hockey participant.”
Schaefer bought two new teammates when the Islanders used the sixteenth decide on Swedish ahead Victor Eklund and nabbed defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson with the seventeenth choice.
Each Pennsylvania groups additionally have been busy in Los Angeles. The Philadelphia Flyers grabbed ahead Porter Martone sixth 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 objectives and 134 factors in simply 65 video games. Whereas sporting a teal jersey for the primary time, he repeated his want to play within the NHL subsequent season if he can crack the roster of a struggling Sharks group that selected Will Smith fourth in 2023 and bought heart Macklin Celebrini with the primary decide a 12 months in the past.
“He is an ultracompetitive child who’s been enjoying up a stage, up a beginning 12 months his entire life,” Sharks normal supervisor Mike Grier mentioned about Misa. “He desires to be the perfect. He desires to play in opposition to the perfect, so I am positive that is what he desires to do, however we’re not going handy him something. He is bought to come back into coaching camp and attempt to take a job.”
An offensive pressure whose eager defensive intuition matches his pure scoring and playmaking abilities, Misa, at 6-1, brings physicality and bodily sacrifice as nicely to offer him a really well-rounded recreation. His transfer completely again to heart this season additionally confirmed how he’ll insert himself by all sides of the sport and he can fill that top-six-forward position within the NHL.
Frondell excelled as a 17-year-old ahead final season with Djurgården in Sweden’s second division, displaying off a two-way recreation that allowed him to push Misa on some draft boards. At 6-2, he might 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 decide 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 choices, sparking groans from the gang. Los Angeles ultimately selected defenseman Henry Brzustewicz from the Memorial Cup champion London Knights basically supervisor Ken Holland’s first choice for his new crew.
The Penguins created nearly all of the surprises within the first spherical, first by selecting Calgary Hitmen heart Kindel with the eleventh decide — a lot increased than many prognosticators anticipated.
Pittsburgh then traded the twelfth decide, which initially belonged to the New York Rangers, to Philadelphia for the twenty second and thirty first picks. The Flyers needed the 6-4 Nesbitt, a fast-rising heart from the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires final season.
The Penguins additionally gave a second-round decide to the Kings and swapped first-rounders so they may transfer up for Horcoff — whose father is former NHL participant Shawn Horcoff — with the twenty fourth decide.
The Anaheim Ducks took an opportunity on ahead Roger McQueen with the tenth choice. The 6-5 McQueen is broadly thought to have sufficient expertise to turn into an elite heart, however the Saskatchewan native has been slowed by a again damage that scared off some groups.
Two goalies have 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 decide, making him the highest-picked European goalie in fourth years, and San Jose added goalie Joshua Ravensbergen with the thirtieth choice.
The Boston Bruins used the seventh decide on Boston Faculty heart James Hagens, the consensus prime prospect for this draft a 12 months 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 decide was introduced by a video of Adam Sandler in character as Joyful Gilmore, full along with his signature Bruins jersey.
“I am so excited to be again in Boston, and to have Adam Sandler make the decide, that was particular,” mentioned Hagens, who cites “Joyful Gilmore” as his favourite film. “I like to win, and I am actually glad that I am in Boston.”
Hagens combines playmaking and naturally easy skating skill to be one of the efficient finesse gamers within the draft. He excels in small areas and all the time has the puck on his stick, boasting wonderful imaginative and prescient as a harmful puck handler and passing risk, with consciousness to search out — and hit — teammates in open ice.
This 12 months’s draft lacked the centralized construction that has lengthy been a staple. The 32 groups’ varied executives are largely at house, not strewn throughout the draft flooring. Nearly all of the picks have been taken to a video room simply behind the stage to trade televised pleasantries with their new entrance workplaces by videoconferencing.
ESPN’s Kristen Shilton and The Related Press contributed to this report.