LOS ANGELES — After Matthew Schaefer pulled the blue-and-orange sweater over his head at the NHL draft, his eyes already glistening with tears, he glanced down at his left shoulder and saw a pink ribbon.
The symbol of breast cancer awareness was the New York Islanders’ tribute to his mother, Jennifer, who died of the disease just 16 months ago.
The No. 1 pick kissed the ribbon and modestly pointed to the sky, paying a poignant tribute to the woman who raised this boy into the man he’ll soon become — and who will accompany him on every step of his bright hockey future.
The Islanders selected the gifted 17-year-old defenseman first overall Friday night, kicking off an NHL draft with a beautiful moment felt across the breadth of the sport.
“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.”
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 Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
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 Schaefer. The 6-foot-2 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, growing into an irresistible choice for the top pick.
Schaefer persevered through tragedy to reach this moment. Along with the loss of his mother, he also endured the recent deaths of the Otters’ owner, Jim Waters, and the mother of his billet family.
The Islanders added the ribbon patch to the ceremonial jersey 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 J.S. 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 in the NHL draft 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 also 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 6-2, 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 6-foot-4 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 6-foot-5 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 of a No. 1 pick in this field, unlike the past two drafts, although Schaefer clearly came out on top.
The draft also lacked the centralized structure that has long been a staple of this annual exercise. The 32 teams’ various 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.
