The NHL is Terrified of Matthew Schaefer...

The NHL is terrified of Matthew Schaefer and what he can lead the Islanders to become. We're going to break it down on this episode of Islanders Digest. Honestly, what made me really want to make this video, on top of the fact that he just played five minutes in an overtime, that is absolutely ridiculous, but Really, what inspired this video is recently we've been doing a lot of talks on things the Islanders can do to improve, how they can mix up the lineup, but what players can they try to add, are there players they can maybe sell to get a different look, get some picks, and I've noticed we've barely talked about what Matthew Schaefer is doing, because year two, he is a 19-year-old defenseman, you almost, not almost, you expect it at this point. That is how good of a player he is, so I thought we'd do this video to really highlight much he has improved from last year, if that is possible, and just highlight what this means for the future of the Islanders, because we see a lot of negative comments here on Islanders Digest, and I understand the team isn't exactly what we want to see this year. There's some questions in terms of how many future assets they can put together to put the team together that you want to see. At the end of the day, you know, I always see these comments about tear down rebuilds, all these things. You tear down a franchise just for the hopes to draft a player like Matthew Schaefer. Most time you tear down, you get the first overall pick. You don't get a player close to what Schaefer is. I think the Islanders are in a really good position to build out the rest of this team. And there will be faults, right? There are going to be some tough decisions that come at different points. But at the end of the day, franchise defensemen are... Perhaps the hardest piece to find. Maybe you want to tie franchise centers in there, right? But you have the franchise defenseman. And as much as people want to see this team tear down, go into a different direction, I got to be honest, Schaefer has been so good for the New York Islanders. I don't know how much you possibly could tear this team down without. Absolutely wrecking the franchise. So let's get right into talking about it. It was really cool. I noticed it right away that Schaefer had played that entire five minutes. But then Elliot Friedman actually tweeted about it. I didn't realize this was a record that no player had ever done this. He played the entire five minutes of the overtime, of course, assisted by the fact that he drew a penalty and then allowed the Islanders to contain the puck for over I would say almost two minutes they held the puck there before there was a touch-up by Nashville, and then from there, they did not score on the power play. Maybe that's the one blunder you can give the Islanders in this situation that you played five minutes because you didn't score at the end of the day. They got the win anyway, so. Who really cares about that? But it just showed the absolute endurance of Matthew Schaefer. And for me, it was the fact that he made that play defensively to keep the Islanders from losing that game after they hadn't scored. And for these overtimes, I'm not overly worried with how the Islanders are playing. Once Matthew Barzell gets back, I think they're going to win a lot more of these. You know, you could have Matthew Barzell and Matthew Schaefer bouncing off each other. Without Barzell, he was a huge weapon for them. It's hard to win without an electric skater on the forward side, as well as a defenseman there. So not worried about those. But it just shows how much Schaefer has come. And I really want to talk more, right? Because we made jokes last year about how Patrick Waugh would play Schaefer. I don't want to say way too much because he deserved the ice time. But the amount of time he was playing was really high. And I find it funny. Now you have a really strong head coach like Pete DeBoer. And still, he's playing Schaefer. The season, his average time on ice is 26 minutes and 43 seconds, basically 27 minutes a game, playing close to half of every game. In that Nashville game, he actually played 32 minutes, just an insane amount of ice time, and he plays it so well. And what's so impressive about Schaefer is not just the offensive ability. We knew that was there. After last season, right? But now I think he's taking a big step in the defensive direction. I think he's done a really good job preventing chances for the Islanders. There are times, you know, he gets a little. I missed a play, right? It's still not perfect. No defenseman is going to be perfect. But at this point, I think Schaefer has cemented himself in the top five of the NHL. I was hesitant to say that in the offseason. I think we needed to see more in terms of consistency defensively. We've seen it now this season. He has 11 points on this year so far in 12 games. And I honestly don't think people are talking enough about that because, yeah. 11 points in 12 games for a defenseman is absolutely incredible, but you have to factor in with the New York Islanders that this is not a good team offensively. Other than Bo Horvat, really none of the forwards are carrying their weight. So we see a lot of times on teams that you have defensemen with absolutely electric point totals. I think a great example of this is Evan Bouchard. I think Bouchard is an incredible defenseman, underrated at this point just because Yeah, he has his defensive awards, but I think they're highly overblown. But he also plays with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, right? So it helps him get points, right? So he gets like that. But Cale Makar is another example. Incredible defenseman, but he plays with Nathan MacKinnon, right? The superstars on the Colorado Avalanche. To be putting up point-per-game numbers or close to point-per-game numbers on the New New York Islanders is a much more challenging feat. And it just shows how good he is. As a defenseman, he is basically holding the offense. He is carrying the offense from the back end. And it just puts him in the rare company that we talk about these players. Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Evan Bouchard, you want to put him there on the offensive side. Well Just incredible. Zach Gorenski, like he is in that conversation and going into the season, I felt like he was still on the outside of that conversation. be Now I think he's making it into that inner circle right of elite defensemen in the NHL. And at age 19 to do that. Please, go look at what a lot of these guys were doing when they were 19. It's insane to see what Schaefer has already done. back. And I really want to highlight, too, I think he is getting better. One of the things I've really noticed this season, in fact, comparing it to last year, and first of all, talking about the stats, one thing I have to point out, that shooting percentage, 4.5, is significantly lower than it was last season. And I don't think, well, I don't know if he's always going to shoot 10%. Defensemen typically have lower shooting percentages. And it's just, I have to say the shots he's taken with how many points, How many posts he's hit this season. I think Schaefer's shot is a lot harder this season. I think it's a lot more accurate. So I think those goals are going to come. I think he is going to be, we don't see a lot of 10% shooters consistently in the NHL from the points. Examples of guys who can do it are guys like Kale McCarr, guys like Zach Werenski, I think Evan Bouchard. I think that's about it. When it comes to the consistent guys who are able to shoot at a 10% clip with their shot, I think Schaefer is going to be one of those guys. So you look at his stats again, I think more goals are going to come. But what I am more looking at is how he has definitely accelerated when it comes to assists. And I don't think that's by accident. When you look at Matthew Schaefer this season, I think he's making a lot better shooting decisions. I don't think, not that it was a problem because he's so good at getting the puck on net. And at times, I think he would throw. Throw the puck on net instead of making a better pass. This year, you're seeing a lot more of that playmaking ability, and it's to be expected, right? You go from the OHL to the NHL, there's a lot more space. It's harder to make pass in the NHL, but I think his eyes are really opening up. And this is a really encouraging sign for the Islanders with how good Schaefer is at skating. If he can elevate that playmaking like he has earlier this season, right? You think about Matt Barzell and how dangerous it is to have a combination of speed and then also be able to dish the puck on somebody else's tape. And then he also has that shot that maybe Barzal doesn't use enough in comparing. Go Schaefer to an elite forward like Barzal. It just shows what he's able to do, right? But when it comes to Schaefer, I'm just seeing all these things line up. I think there's gonna be another level to this player. And frankly, I can't wait to see what these point totals look like once the Islanders do get some of these forwards back in the lineup. Schaefer has more weapons to work with because it's incredibly impressive that you're putting up these numbers. And other than Bo Horvat, the best... Forward you're working with is what? Braden Schenn? Are we comfortable saying at this point that Braden Schenn is the second best forward on the New York Islanders? I really don't know who else it would be at this point, and we can have this discussion at a later time. I want to focus on Matthew Schaefer here, but everything looks really good. He's taking more minutes. He's handling it really well. And it's really funny, too, that the Islanders played seven defensemen in this game. And in a game where the Islanders dressed seven defensemen, Schaefer still played 32 minutes. Now, it was a little disappointing to see that Kessel only got five. Kind of talking about the rest of the team for a bit to end this video here. I think Mayfield had a solid return here. Wouldn't be surprised if he kind of filters in a bit more. Got to be honest, Tony DiAngelo has not been great, and I'm going to give him some leeway with how good he was last season, but that is something that is concerning me a bit when it comes to this team moving forward. Tonight, they have a big game against the Minnesota Wild. The next four games for this team are going to be tough. They play Minnesota. Uh, uh, Sorry, these are the standings. My bad. I'm trying to pull up the schedule. Made a mistake there. So they have Minnesota tonight. Then you have the Edmonton Oilers, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the New Jersey Devils, who recently acquired Connor Hellebuyck. So a tough stretch here before they go on that Western road trip to L.A., where this seems to be where the season kind of lives or dies a lot of times with the Islanders. That's a road trip where you go through, you get six points, you feel really good. You lose three points. It can be a really tough time, especially considering the teams you're playing before. Honestly, if the Islanders get four points in their next four games, I would be very thankful. I'm really thrilled with this team. Quick storyline for tonight. Shabunin is returning to play against New York Islanders, and I didn't want to make a full video about this, but I thought I would kind of give my thoughts on the situation. You see a lot of people showing how much he has scored. In Minnesota, criticizing the New York Islanders. Listen, if it works there, I feel happy for him. I think that is the one place where it can work because you have the high skill level forwards, the high skill level shooters, where he can just be that facilitator on the power play and be valuable, similar to what we saw with Zuccarello on the Wild. But I gotta be honest, like people are making it like the Islanders really fumbled this player. I still don't see that being the case, right? It's a shame the Islanders didn't have more talent to get more use out of him. But I don't think this is a forward that the Minnesota Wild should consider locking up long term. In fact, the fact that He's not even doing as good as he's cheaper than Zuccarello was. But Zuccarello, everyone's like, oh yeah, he's better than Zuccarello. Zuccarello was a point per game last year. I think we're forgetting about that. The one thing I've noticed, and I haven't watched every game, is he's electric on the power play, right? You pull up some of the stats, like he's put up six points on the power play. Absolutely prolific there. Again, it is an elite power play with Quinn Hughes, with Matt Boldy, with... Kirill Kaprizov, who's scoring a goal per game somehow at this point. But honestly, other than that, I think the five-on-five play is a lot of what we saw with the New York Islanders, which was the problem. The Islanders are a team, and people argue me in the comments all the time, you can't afford to hold onto a player that's only good on the power play. You need to roll four lines. You need to be effective there. That's the same criticism I have with Patrick Laine. The thing I'm noticing with Shabunov still is defensively, and it's not always his fault, But his line is consistent. consistently out no matter who you put him with is consistently out for the most goals uh that's something that you can't have and I think for Minnesota it works fine right again the power play points you'll take that with the plus minus isn't everything right and I and every time I point it out like he's a minus four right now people are like oh well plus minus you can't just Judge everything on that stat. But it is worth noting on a team where you have guys with plus 10, plus 15 in some cases, a very talented team, this is one of the few guys with a minus. And the other guys who have that are the guys who don't play on the fourth line. And if you look at the time on ice with Minnesota, there have been times where they don't actually play him all that much five on five compared to what he got with the Islanders. He's only getting a minute more. So those are my thoughts on Shabanov. I hope he does well. I hope he convinces Minnesota to give him a long-term contract, but I'm not really losing any sleep over what happened there. It's a shame it didn't work out with the New York Islanders. I hope they beat the Minnesota Wild today and he doesn't score any goals against the Islanders because I'm sure I'll get a hard time on this video if he does. But even if he scores a hat trick, even if he has a point per game this season with Minnesota, it just doesn't change my opinion of what he was able to do and what he was not. able to do. And at the end of the day, I don't think this is a piece that would have been a long term piece for the New York Islanders, right? You talk about the age of things like, and people will criticize Holmstrom, Hyman all the time. Like the one thing they do, right? It's frustrating that they don't always score as much as you'd like them to. They kill penalties, they play good defensive minutes, they provide secondary value on their roles when they're not scoring. The Islanders need that in their players. Ideally, they also get a superstar who can do all those things. People will look at the points, which I don't think Shabanov was. I thought at one point that he could be, but you saw where he struggled with. And people forget about the health aspect, too. They assume like, oh, the Islanders just scratched him for 40 games. No, he was hurt for like a good 25 of those. And even some of those healthy scratches, he was not 100%, right? So those are my thoughts on that. I think, honestly, you put Anthony Duclair in that situation. Minnesota, he'd do the same exact thing. The only thing is he costs more. But that's going to do it for this episode that was supposed to be on Matthew Schaefer. Hopefully, Matthew Schaefer gets a couple points in this game against Minnesota. We know that Shabanov kind of struggles to cover the points at times. So that could be something that Schaefer could take advantage of. And yeah, if they have a good road stretch here, as Schaefer is able to continue to carry the offense. So we'll see where the Islanders go this season. Still need to get some health back. But it's been interesting at the very least to say. Schaefer has been an incredible part of that, and it just shows you how encouraging the future of this franchise is, right? This guy is 19 years old. It's insane to think about.