Matthew Schaefer said he is focused on the task at hand when he makes his NHL debut for the New York Islanders on Thursday.
One could understand if Schaefer, the top overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, took a moment to size up the competition. After all, the 18-year-old will face off against Sidney Crosby and the host Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday before testing his mettle versus Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
“You really don’t think about who you’re going up against,” Schaefer said before his debut. “Obviously, you’ve got to know what kind of style they play, like a little faster, all that stuff. But I think just going out there, putting your head down, working through it, and just working is going to be the big thing.
“I don’t want to go out there and just be like, Oh, I’m going up against him. It’s just hockey, right? So you want to go out there and work as hard as you can. And, you know, just forget about who is on the ice.”
Schaefer has shown no ill effects of the broken clavicle that ended his season with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. The 6-foot-2 defenseman sustained that injury on Dec. 27 while playing for Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
Healthy and ready to contribute, Schaefer will be tasked in aiding starting goaltender Ilya Sorokin as the Islanders attempt to improve upon last season’s sixth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division.
There isn’t much room for error with New York, which tied for 27th in the NHL last season in average goals per game (2.71) and sported the league’s second-worst power play (12.6 percent) and penalty kill (72.2 percent).
It’s not all gloom and doom for the Islanders, who saw captain Anders Lee record a team-best 29 goals while Bo Horvat contributed a club-best 57 points. A healthy Mathew Barzal should provide a jolt as well.
Lee collected three goals and one assist and Horvat added five points (one goal, four assists) to help New York win three of the four meetings against Pittsburgh last season.
The Penguins, however, got off on the right foot Tuesday with a 3-0 road victory over the New York Rangers.
Justin Brazeau scored two goals, Evgeni Malkin notched two assists and Arturs Silovs made 25 saves in a surprise start over Tristan Jarry.
“It felt great to be on a new team,” Silovs said. “I think we have pretty good chemistry with the guys already and it’s so nice to play and it’s even better to win on the road. … Work pays off, I felt confident, I felt like my game was solid and just keep going.”
The head-coaching victory was the first for Dan Muse, who spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the Rangers.
Rickard Rakell was held in check on Tuesday after recording career-best totals in goals (35) and points (70) last season.
Crosby, who led the Penguins in assists (58) and points (91) in 2024-25, also was held off the scoresheet in the season opener.
