{"id":642954,"date":"2026-05-14T16:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642954\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:23:10","slug":"schaefer-of-islanders-honors-late-mother-with-childrens-hospital-partnership-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642954\/","title":{"rendered":"Schaefer of Islanders honors late mother with children\u2019s hospital partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schaefer visited patients before he walked into the hospital\u2019s atrium with the Calder Trophy to discuss his partnership with Northwell Health<\/a> and being named the League\u2019s best rookie. It capped a memorable day that started with Schaefer waking up having no idea his father and brother were in town. In fact, Matthew called his father the night before, completely unaware Todd Schaefer was staying in the same New York City hotel, along with his brother, Johnathon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think that he was 10 floors above me, saying his FaceTime and stuff doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Schaefer said of his father. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t answering me the last two days. I mean, part of me was like he doesn\u2019t know how to work a phone, so I can see why it\u2019s not working.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was super special for them to be there today. You know, this day\u2019s just so special because I get to experience it with all you guys, but especially all the kids here at Northwell. I love it here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Islanders love having Schaefer too. He exceeded all expectations as an 18-year-old after being the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Among rookies this season, he was first in time on ice per game (24:41), tied for the lead in goals (23) and was third in points (59) while playing all 82 games. Among rookie defensemen, Schaefer ranked first in each category plus power-play goals (eight), power-play points (18), overtime goals (two), game-winning goals (four) and shots on goal (222), and was second with a plus-13 rating.<\/p>\n

But Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said the way Schaefer carries himself away from the rink makes him that much more impressive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid anyone think his progression would be that quick? I\u2019d be lying (if I said I did),\u201d Darche said. \u201cWe knew he had all the potential. If you had told me in three years (he\u2019d be an elite player), I would have said, \u2018OK, great.\u2019 But now he\u2019s not surprising anyone; he\u2019s going to get tested even more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what he\u2019s done on and off the ice has been phenomenal. I\u2019ve been in the League long enough to know when it\u2019s a good person, then good things happen to good people. He\u2019s a better young man than he is a player. \u2026 Today there\u2019s media, but he does a lot of these things without the cameras. It\u2019s great when good people get rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Schaefer visited patients before he walked into the hospital\u2019s atrium with the Calder Trophy to discuss his partnership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-642954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}