What makes top 2025 NHL Draft prospect Matthew Schaefer so special

Steven Ellis
Steven Ellis(sellishockey)
Jun 9, 2025, 09:00 EDT
What makes top 2025 NHL Draft prospect Matthew Schaefer so special
Credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff

You’re going to have a hard time finding a projected No. 1 NHL Draft pick who has played fewer games than Erie Otters defender Matthew Schaefer.

Between the six games at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, two at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge, 17 in the OHL, four international exhibition games, and the four periods of action at the World Juniors, Schaefer skated in a total of 30 competitive hockey games throughout the 2024-25 season.

And yet, that didn’t impact his draft status in the slightest. Despite his limited workload, Schaefer is considered by many to be the best prospect in this draft. He’s as rounded as it gets – there isn’t a single glaring flaw in his game. When scouts describe comparables, names like Miro Heiskanen and Jake Sanderson pop up. Some scouts think he could be the best defenseman taken first overall in decades.

Schaefer has been through a lot already, starting with a pair of personal tragedies in his first major junior season. He then started the 2024-25 OHL campaign on the sidelines, missing nine games due to mononucleosis. He put up some excellent numbers once he returned and was easily the most impressive player at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge. It was a small two-game sample size, but it helped push him to the top of draft boards almost immediately.

Schaefer then made his mark as Canada’s best defenseman at the World Juniors, despite being the youngest defender there. Unfortunately, a broken clavicle against Latvia in the second game ultimately ended his season.

So, how has Schefer managed to stay at the top despite missing so much time? That’s a luxury so few prospects get.

There isn’t a better, more deceptive skater on the blueline in this draft class, with his mobility being among the best we’ve seen in recent draft classes. Schaefer is as good of a puck distributor as you’ll find, too, and it’s only a matter of time until he pops off in the OHL. That’s partly because he thinks that game is at such an advanced level at his age, often luring opponents in before pulling off a deceptive deke and getting the puck where it needs to be.

Like many other elite puck-moving, mobile defenders in the NHL, Schaefer is adaptable. He’s got so many moves in his playbook depending on what he sees. Schaefer will pinch when there’s an opening. He’ll stay back if he fears his D-partner is about to get caught out. He’ll go end-to-end if he thinks nobody else can get the play done like he can.

Schaefer can move well in any direction, and he uses that to drive his offense. Schaefer can rush the puck in with his high-end speed, and he has the hockey sense to let the rest do the work. He’s always moving and trying to make plays happen at both ends of the ice, and he’s got the awareness and poise to be a top unit power-play quarterback. So, you pair elite-level skating with some of the best hands and decision-making of any prospect in this draft class, and you’ve got as close to a perfect defenseman as you’ll find.

Dominating junior hockey is one thing – leveraging your skating at the next level is a whole different world. But scouts note just how high his hockey IQ is. You can have all the skill in the world, or you could be the biggest, meanest defender around. But if you can’t make quick decisions and your skating lags behind, you’re toast. Schaefer can break plays out all on his own – seriously, it’s impressive. He went end-to-end to score multiple times this season, which is absurd.

You can pick any area of the ice, and Schaefer is effective there. He’s an excellent transition defender and shuts a lot of plays down at the neutral zone because he’s willing to attack and take space away. The first pick in the 2023 OHL Draft has also spent a lot of time trying to refine his game in his own zone the past two years.

“My defensive game, stepping up at the blue line, surfing and angling, those are things I’ve worked on a lot since going to the OHL,” Schaefer said earlier in the season. “I want to be known to shut down the game or help get a goal when we need it.”

And there’s the maturity. Many scouts have applauded his mental toughness at such a young age. He lost both his mother and his billet mom during his OHL rookie campaign – two unimaginable tragedies. Through it all, he has remained a top prospect while honoring their memory, both on and off the ice.

“I just want to be a good person … I’ve been through a lot and I want to help other people,” Schaefer told NHL.com’s Mike Morreale in Buffalo last week.

Schaefer might become just the third player taken first overall since 2006 to not be a full-time NHLer right away. He just needs to play, period. He hasn’t played since late December and that’s a long time to be out of the thick of things. We saw how difficult it was for Alexis Lafreniere to go out eight months between games in 2020 and 2021, and that was after a full junior season.

The New York Islanders need all the help they can get in the prospect department, especially on the blueline. If they decide to take a forward instead, the San Jose Sharks could use someone of Schaefer’s ilk. And realistically, so can everyone. We’ve seen skilled young defenders take center stage in recent years – Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox, Cale Makar, Rasmus Dahlin, Lane Hutson, Heiskanen, you name it.

Next up? Future Norris Trophy winner Matthew Schaefer.

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