The NHL rookie lap: How unique tradition leaves a lasting impression on Islanders and Rangers

Matthew Schaefer’s NHL career began with a fine. It was just the price of taking his rookie lap in style, sans helmet.

The rookie lap, of course, is exactly what it sounds like. Before an NHL player’s first regular-season game, he comes onto the ice alone to take a solo twirl or two before warm-ups while his teammates wait in the tunnel.

It started years ago as a prank on unsuspecting rookies. Now it’s become one of hockey’s more endearing traditions.

“It was awesome,” Schaefer told Newsday recently. “Going out for your first NHL game and doing the rookie lap with no helmet, it was pretty cool. It was definitely a moment you were fired up for. You’re just like, ‘Wow, you’re in the NHL, no helmet, warm-ups.’ It was a really cool feeling.”

Welcome to The NHL, Matthew Schaefer and Maxim Shabanov! pic.twitter.com/GUEUtIMcSY

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 9, 2025

The Islanders’ record-setting 18-year-old defenseman stepped onto the ice  before the regular-season opener at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Oct. 9 before all of his other teammates save for fellow first-year player Max Shabanov. The two proceeded to skate on their own for a half-minute or so before the rest of the team joined them for warm-ups.

But NHL rule 9.6 stipulates that any player who entered the league in the 2019-20 season or later must wear his helmet during warmups. The NHL does not divulge the price of such rookie insolence, but it’s believed to be $2,500.

“Everyone gets fined for the no bucket if you’re not allowed,” Schaefer said. “I got fined for sure. They just take it out.”

The Islanders have had four players take rookie laps this season: Laurel Hollow’s Marshall Warren and fellow defenseman Travis Mitchell in addition to Schaefer and Shabanov. The Rangers have had five rookie laps with Jaroslav Chmelar, Noah Laba, Adam Sykora, defenseman Drew Fortescue and goalie Dylan Garand.

“It’s a special thing and I think hockey’s pretty cool with how we get to do that,” Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield — who took his rookie lap in Columbus on April 6, 2014, with his now-wife, Emily, and other family members in attendance — told Newsday. “You’re out there by yourself for a second and it’s a little weird at the same time.”

The rookie lap is a 21st century NHL tradition, becoming ubiquitous only during the past 15 seasons or so. It is something every rookie now anticipates greatly.

The Rangers’ Gabe Perreault, the 23rd overall pick in 2023, took his at Madison Square Garden on April 2, 2025.

“It was at MSG so it made it even better,” he told Newsday. “It’s kind of what you dream as a kid, that first game and, especially, that rookie lap. You always watch it on TV. They always show it whenever there’s a rookie lap. So it’s super-cool. It’s definitely one of the things you look forward to when you’re about to play your first game. My teammates were there. My family was there. All that made it even better.”

Of fear, falling and fun

“You don’t want to trip and fall for sure,” the Islanders’ Cal Ritchie told Newsday of his rookie lap while still with the Avalanche on Oct. 9, 2024. “I did fine. I didn’t have my bucket off, either. So I wasn’t nervous about that. I just didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I remember seeing something. My family sent a video to our group chat. So that was pretty special.”

"Special'' also would describe Matt Rempe’s experience with the Rangers on Feb. 18, 2024. He became the first NHL player to take his rookie lap in an outdoor game before a 6-5 comeback win over the Islanders at MetLife Stadium, which also included his first NHL fight, against Matt Martin.

That fear of falling is universal among those taking a rookie lap, especially with how prevalent social media has become.

The ideal is to calmly skate while stickhandling a puck before rifling it into the crease.

Of course, playing to that fear can lend itself to pranks.

The Islanders’ Emil Heineman became the butt of a joke before making his NHL debut with the Canadiens on Dec. 21, 2023.

“I remember I asked one of the equipment guys to push out a few pucks so I don’t step on them,” Heineman told Newsday. “And he tossed every single puck out there and they were like mines all over the zone. I was so scared of falling. That’s my recollection.”

Dressing room neighbor Marc Gatcomb listened in on Heineman’s tale, the two of them sharing a laugh over it.

“I had one puck on the ice,” volunteered Gatcomb, who took his rookie lap for the Islanders on Jan. 14, 2025, against the Senators at UBS Arena. “I think everyone’s like just try not to fall. That’s the one thing in your head. I remember being so nervous I was shaking, literally, until I got on the ice. And then it’s kind of like a blur in the moment. You’re so nervous, you’re just trying not to lose the puck. You try to shoot it and not fall.

“Right after it happens, the next couple of days, it still feels like surreal. It’s something that you work for. So when it happens, it’s like, wow, this is your reality. So it’s cool. I definitely watched my lap a couple of times. It wasn’t the prettiest one.”

That spurred another memory from Heineman.

“When I watch it, I just notice how fast I’m skating,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Calm down a little bit.’ I came out running out of the gate. I struggled to turn in the corners because I came in so fast.”

Gatcomb wore his helmet for his rookie lap because former Islanders president/general manager Lou Lamoriello didn’t allow any of his players to take warm-ups without one. New GM Mathieu Darche relaxed that team rule this season.

'Just a cool thing we get to do'

Even as the rookie lap became popular around the NHL, not every team immediately took to it.

Former Islander Zdeno Chara considered it a form of hazing so Bruins rookies did not take a lap while he was that team’s captain from 2006-20.

Still, the rookie lap has expanded beyond the NHL. Players take them in the minor leagues and in junior hockey.

Defenseman Braden Schneider took his NHL rookie lap for the Rangers on Jan. 13, 2022, in San Jose. He also took one before his first game with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford in 2020 and with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League in 2017.

“It’s all the same thing every time,” Schneider told Newsday. “It’s always exciting. I would even say like your first game in any new league or team, you’re always very excited. I remember even my first exhibition game, you’re going out there and you’re like, ‘Holy crap, I’m wearing the jersey. You’re in the Garden.’ It’s crazy to think about. When you actually get the opportunity to do it in the NHL, it’s like, ‘Holy crap, this is an NHL arena.’

“I remember you’ve got Erik Karlsson across the ice, he was on San Jose at the time, and it’s like you’re trying to stay grounded but, at the same time, it feels like you’re floating.”

In a sense, even though the rookies are set apart from their teammates on the ice for that moment, they are not skating alone.

At least, that’s how Rangers defenseman Matthew Robertson, who took his rookie lap in Florida on April 14, 2025, after three seasons with Hartford, described it to Newsday.

“You work your whole life to get to that moment, to play your first NHL game,” he said. “There’s so many emotions and so many people that helped you get to that moment. There’s so much appreciation for all those people that helped me and so many others get to that moment. It’s just a whirlwind of emotions.”

The defenseman scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 18. He said that milestone felt different than his rookie lap.

“First goal, you’re in the midst of the game,” Robertson said. “You’re more focused on the game and then you score and then you’ve got to shift your focus back to the next shift. You enjoy it more so after the game. But the first lap and first game I feel like you cherish a different way.”

The teammates cherish it, too, at least the ones who can watch rookies take their twirl. Many get backed up in the tunnel from the dressing room and have no view.

“It’s fun seeing now,” Mayfield said. “It’s fun seeing guys do it. Even guys on other teams. Not a lot of people get to play in the NHL. It’s just a cool thing we get to do.”

Newsday's Colin Stephenson contributed to this story.