Back in June, the Islanders made Matthew Schaefer the first overall pick in the draft. Now, they have their newest top prospect under contract as the team announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that, as expected, Schaefer has received the maximum allowable. That means he carries a $975K cap charge including signing bonus money plus an additional $3.5MM in potential performance bonuses, $1MM in ’A’ bonuses and $2.5MM in harder to reach ’B’ bonuses.
The 17-year-old (who will turn 18 next month) didn’t enter last season as the presumptive top selection. However, a strong start with OHL Erie vaulted him into the discussion heading to the World Juniors. He only played in two games there for Canada before suffering a broken clavicle that ended his season. Prior to the injury, he had seven goals and 15 assists in just 17 contests for the Otters. That was a five-point improvement on the year before, despite playing in 39 fewer games.
That was enough for new GM Mathieu Darche to make him the new centerpiece of their future back end, especially since they dealt their previous top defender, Noah Dobson, to Montreal on draft day for two more first-round picks along with winger Emil Heineman. New York is all in on Schaefer being the type of all-situations number one defender that is extremely difficult to come by.
That said, while it’s customary for first overall selections to make the jump to the NHL right away, there’s a case to be made that he could benefit from not doing that. With how much time he missed, he could be better off with one more developmental year under his belt before making the jump. However, it’s worth noting that if the Islanders feel the same way, he will have to return to Erie as he is no longer eligible to play NCAA hockey having now signed his entry-level pact.
If he winds up playing fewer than ten NHL games next season, his contract will slide. Alternatively, they could look at the lesser-known threshold of 40 games on the NHL active roster. If Schaefer came in below that and then was sent back, he’d burn the first year of his contract but not accrue a season of service time toward UFA eligibility.
Speculatively, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Schaefer at least break camp with the Islanders with the team assessing how things are going from there. They didn’t bring anyone in to take Dobson’s spot on the back end while Mike Reilly also left via free agency, signing with Carolina. As a result, there’s a definite opening on their back end for Schaefer to fill next season and while he doesn’t have quite the experience that top picks usually have by now, he has the talent to come in and be a difference-maker quite quickly.