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New York Islanders made defender Matthew Schaefer No. 1 selection in the 2025 NHL draft Friday.
The 17-year-old Schaefer is 6-foot-2 and from Hamilton, Ontario.
He spent the last two seasons of Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters.
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Matthew Schaefer was chosen as the first overall choice of New York Islanders in the first round of 2025 NHL Draft at the Peacock Theater. (Kirby Lee/Imag- Pictures)
Schaefer played only 17 games last year before breaking his bone in December, but his sharpness at both ends of the ice still propelled him to the top of almost all drafts of boards.
Schaefer is just the fifth defender who was prepared # 1 gathered in the NHL draft since 2000, and the first since Owen Power went to Buffalo in 2021.
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Matthew Schaefer was chosen as the first overall choice of New York Islanders in the first round of 2025 NHL Draft at the Peacock Theater. (Kirby Lee/Imag- Pictures)
Schaefer passed through tragedy to reach this milestone. Schaefer’s mother, Jennifer, died of cancer 16 months ago, and he endured the recent deaths for Otter’s owner, Jim Waters and mother of his ticket family.
When Schaefer pulled on his islanders -sweater for the first time, he kissed the pink tape plate on his chest that represented breast cancer awareness before he broke in tears.
SAN JOSE SHARKS selects number two and Chicago Blackhawks is in third place in the recently decentralized draft at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles center.
Matthew Schaefer was chosen by New York Icelanders as the first total choice of 2025 NHL Draft at the Peacock Theater. (Kirby Lee/Imag- Pictures)
The islanders won the lottery to first choose in a draft filled with talent.
There was no absolute lock on a # 1 choice in this field, although Schaefer clearly came out on top.
The draft also lacked the centralized format, which has long been a staple ad in this annual exercise. The 32 teams different leaders are mostly at home, not at the draft floor of the Peacock Theater in the center of Los Angele.
