Possible Isles prospect Matthew Schaefer has dealt with tragedies

Matthew Schaefer prays to his mother before every game he plays. The 17-year-old hockey prodigy asks her to comfort him whenever he’s unwell. He talks about her in the present tense.

And he knows she’ll be with him at the NHL Draft on June 27 in Los Angeles, where most around the NHL expect the Islanders to make Schaefer the No. 1 overall pick.

“Mom’s a big part of your family,” Schaefer said to a small group of reporters at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo on Friday. “I love her to death. When I’m sick, she’s the first person I’m calling to come lay with me.”

Jennifer Schaefer died at age 56 in February 2024 after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

“It’s definitely a tough loss to the family, but I’m happy she’s not suffering,” her son said. “She has a front-row seat to every hockey game I play, so that’s good right there.”

There are plenty of on-ice reasons NHL Central Scouting ranked the 6-2, 183-pound defenseman first among North American skaters.

Schaefer blends elite skating skills and playmaking ability with a high hockey IQ and maturity. He can transport the puck the length of the rink and is equally comfortable on the power play and the penalty kill. He cites Cale Makar’s skating and offensive prowess and Brandon Tanev’s shot-blocking ability as inspirations.

“You know what you’re getting from him every night,” said center Michael Misa, who has played junior hockey against Schaefer the past two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League and could round out the draft’s top three along with Hauppauge’s James Hagens. “He’s all over the ice. When he does make that jump to the NHL, he is going to have no problem fitting in.”

But the tragedy in Schaefer’s life — his junior hockey billet mother in Erie, Ontario, Emily Matson, died by suicide three months before Jennifer Schaefer passed away, and Erie Otters owner Jim Waters passed away in December 2024 — has given him a rare fortitude and perspective.

Schaefer was limited to 17 OHL games for Erie after breaking a collarbone at the IIHF Junior World Championships in December.

But losing games is nothing compared to losing loved ones.

“I’m fully healthy,” said Schaefer, who was medically cleared on May 1 but did not participate in the bench press or pull-ups testing on Saturday at the Scouting Combine. “You can’t control what adversity you face. I faced a lot in my life with losing my mom and my billet mom. You’ve just got to be very strong mentally.”

That is one attribute Schaefer said he saw in his mother.

“Stories from we were younger, she’d go in net and I’d shoot on her,” Schaefer said. “I’d be on roller blades and hockey equipment. Me and my brother would run one [on] one and my mom would be in net in goalie equipment. We’d play mini-sticks against her.

“Throughout everything I go through, the ups and downs, I have her strength because she was a really strong woman. One of the strongest persons, if not the strongest person I know. Her strength compared to me, my dad and my brother together, we look not strong at all.”

Schaefer, a self-described “good talker,” enjoys the opportunity he gets through community work to talk to others who have experienced a similar loss.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I hope to try to put people’s minds at ease, in a way. Grief is tough. I know people take grief differently. I love to talk about my mom and her legacy and character. How happy she was. Everything she went through with cancer, she always had a smile on her face. I did a grief visit on Monday. I know my mom would be very happy about what I’m doing. Just helping kids.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.