- Ray Bourque, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Pronger spoke to The Athletic about Matthew Schaefer
- Bourque put the 18-year-old Islander in the same bucket as Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby and Ovechkin
- Read below for what every Hall of Fame defenseman said about Schaefer’s rookie year
Ray Bourque just put Matthew Schaefer in the same conversation as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
Bourque, a five-time Norris winner himself, spoke with The Athletic’s Peter Baugh about the 18-year-old Islander’s rookie year and didn’t hedge on his ceiling.
“When I think about Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, Ovechkin, Celebrini this year, these types of generational players, I think he definitely has a great chance to be one of these guys,” Bourque said.
Schaefer’s unanimous Calder Trophy gave the panel plenty to work with. He finished with 23 goals and 59 points in 82 games, tied Brian Leetch’s rookie record for defenseman goals, and at 18 years, 223 days became the youngest Calder winner in NHL history.
The skating drew the loudest praise. Nicklas Lidstrom told Baugh that Schaefer “carries the puck, but his head is up, his head is on a swivel, so he sees the ice, and he’s not afraid to use that to his advantage.” Lane Hutson summed it up in three words: “It’s like he’s floating.”
Phil Housley called Schaefer “a breath of fresh air” for an Islanders team that had spent years searching for a face. Chris Pronger went a step further, saying Schaefer “reshaped and remolded and rebranded that franchise.”
Then Bourque, who won his own Calder as a 19-year-old in 1980, dropped the line that should hang in every Islanders highlight reel for the next decade.
“He already is a No. 1 defenseman,” Bourque said.
Schaefer admitted to Baugh that some of the names being thrown his way required a little research first. Hockey genius on the ice, hockey history rookie off it.
Watch Schaefer react to learning he had won the Calder:
The Islanders missed the playoffs, fired Patrick Roy and head into the offseason with plenty to figure out. The kid wearing 48 is not one of those things.
