- Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer was surprised with the Calder Trophy on ABC’s GMA3 Wednesday morning
- At 18 years, 223 days, Schaefer is the youngest Calder winner in NHL history, one day younger than Nathan MacKinnon
- Read below for the GMA3 surprise, his record-setting rookie season, and what he said about his mom
Matthew Schaefer is the youngest Calder Trophy winner in NHL history.
The 18-year-old Islanders defenseman was sitting on the set of ABC’s GMA3 on Wednesday morning when his father, Todd, and brother, Johnathon, walked out holding the trophy. Schaefer broke down before they could even get the words out.
Watch the GMA3 segment from this morning:
His mom is the reason this one cut deep. Jennifer Schaefer died of breast cancer in 2024, and Matthew has spent his rookie season living with Matt Martin and his family on Long Island. Martin is the former Islander now working as special assistant to general manager Mathieu Darche.
Martin’s wife Sydney and their two daughters, Winnie and Alice, walked out next to Todd and Johnathon. Schaefer called the Martin girls his “sisters” while fighting back tears.
He thanked his family directly:
“We’ve got a lot of good family. My mom’s helped me and my family so much with everything; obviously we’ve had some tough losses, but it hasn’t stopped us as a family. We’ve gotten a lot closer. For you guys to be here, it means a lot. This year was super important to me.”
The hockey numbers behind the trophy are absurd. Schaefer led all rookies in ice time at 24:41 per game, tied for the rookie lead with 23 goals, and finished third with 59 points across all 82 games.
He set the NHL record for points by an 18-year-old defenseman and tied the single-season mark for goals by a rookie blueliner.
MacKinnon set the previous Calder age record in 2013-14 at 18 years, 224 days. Schaefer beat him by exactly one day.
Schaefer, Montreal’s Ivan Demidov, and Anaheim’s Beckett Sennecke were the three finalists the league named last week:
The vote wasn’t close, either. Schaefer was the first name on every single one of the 198 PHWA ballots, making him the first unanimous Calder winner since Teemu Selanne with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93.
And the league made it official:
Schaefer was asked about beating out Demidov and Sennecke:
“It’s definitely an honor to see so many great names on that trophy. Obviously, Demidov and Sennecke, they’re great players and they could have won it too. I think any of us could have won it, because we all had great years.”
He’s the first Islander to win the Calder since Mathew Barzal in 2017-18, and only the sixth player in franchise history to take it home. Less than a year ago, per his dad, Matthew was sitting in the front row at a Maple Leafs playoff game in an Auston Matthews jersey chanting “Go Leafs go!” Now his name is on the trophy.
