DeBoer sees "special" potential in rookie Schaefer, noting the young defenseman's impressive confidence and dynamic game that nearly earned him Olympic honors.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- There are not many similarities between new New York Islanders head coach, Pete DeBoer, and rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer.
DeBoer is 57, almost a good 40 years older than the 18-year-old Schaefer.
The grizzled bench boss was a right-shot center during his OHL and IHL days. Schaefer is a left-shot defenseman.
But there's one similarity -- the most important one.
“I know he loves winning," Schaefer said following his first skate under DeBoer. "I know he knows how to coach a team. Besides any of the coaching and things like that, just how great a guy he is and a role model for guys like me and guys in this room. A lot of his teams have done so well. As a young kid, being coached by a guy like that is pretty cool. Patty and especially him, they're two great coaches. This first year, I got a lot of experience. I just look forward to learning and having an open mindset with him, and just learning everything he tells me that I can get better at. He’s a great guy, and everyone has so many great things to say about him. When I got to meet him, he met all the high expectations.”
As you can expect, DeBoer had glowing things to say about Schaefer after his first interaction with the young stud.
"He’s special. He’s a special player, but he’s also got a special personality," DeBoer said. "He’s got a confidence to him. He looks you in the eye when he talks to you. He’s not afraid to get into a conversation like a lot of young players are. He’s got that quiet confidence. Celebrini has the same thing, being around him at the Olympics. It's really great to have two kids that young with that type of skill but also that type of personality.”
Speaking of Team Canada, Schaefer didn't ultimately make the team, but DeBoer, who was part of their roster construction, said he was incredibly close to cracking the roster.
"When you’re talking about this group and the vision of where this organization’s going, Schaefer is one of the first things that you talk about, including having, arguably, the best goalie in the league, too," DeBoer said. "But he’s special. I ran the defense at the Olympics for Team Canada, and I did a lot of scouting. The management group included me in all the selection meetings so we watched very closely all the defensemen in the league. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes the first half of the year, what I was seeing from an 18-year-old, the maturity in his game, how dynamic he was. He was within a razor of being on that Olympic team at 18. I'm really excited to work with him and get to know him as a young man.”
DeBoer has helped develop names like Brent Burns, Shea Theodore, Thomas Harley, and Miro Heiskanen into dynamic, elite blueliners in the league.
“With younger guys coming in, it’s about showing them how to play the right way," general manager Mathieu Darche said. "Pete has done it in Dallas—Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley, and Robertson when he was young. In San Jose, Timo Meier. He’s great with veterans, too. I talked to people from Hockey Canada—everything was so positive. I sat in the meeting this morning with the coaches and went through systems and tweaks. I was really impressed with his detail and how assertive but calm he is."
The Islanders have a lot of work to do to become a stronger hockey club, and their success over the next few seasons relies heavily on the DeBoer-Schaefer relationship, which is off to a very strong start.