Winning the draft lottery takes luck, but every eventual Stanley Cup champion gets a good bounce along their route to immortality. The New York Islanders had a 3.5% chance of winning the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery, and the balls popped in their favor.

“Immediately when we won the lottery, Zeeker called me and we were just like, ‘This changes the entire direction of our franchise, man,’” Mathew Barzal said on The ForePlay Pod. “Just to get the best player, especially in a draft where you're getting a stud.

“Who knows if [Schaefer] is generational or not? I obviously hope he is — like, the way he skates, he could be.”

Barzal was on hand for the Islanders Blue & White Scrimmage during development camp week and loved what he saw from the No. 1 pick.

“I think Schaefer is a complete stud,” Barzal continued. “I saw him play at that rookie development camp, skates like the wind, wants the puck, sees the game... he's a big boy. He's one of those guys where, like, you have to draft a kid like that. Because teams don't let guys like that ever go — like, Cale Makar is never going to leave Colorado. I don't know what's going on with Quinn Hughes in Vancouver right now, but those kinds of defensemen are so good, and I feel like to get to that next level as a franchise, you need one of those guys.

“Like, you're always in the hunt when you have a good D-core. And him and that Aitcheson kid who we just drafted — like, those two are going to set up [the future] so nicely for the next 15 years.”

Schaefer, who is currently playing for Team Canada at the World Junior Summer Showcase after his 2024–25 season came to a premature end in late December due to a clavicle injury, could make the Islanders out of training camp this season. 

At this point, going the college route doesn't seem like a likely outcome, even though the option remains possible — as long as he doesn't enroll in college and miss classes for training camp, which is not allowed.

Schaefer's goal is to make the Islanders, and in all honesty, he probably will — getting a nine-game sample size before the organization has to determine whether he should remain on the NHL roster or be loaned back to the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League for the rest of the season. 

By not letting Schaefer reach the 10-game mark, his entry-level deal — which he has not signed yet — can slide and begin in 2025–26. 

Islanders training camp is likely to open in mid-September, where Barzal and Schaefer will share the ice for the first time.

PHOTO: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images