Matthew Schaefer’s success doesn’t mean Islanders rebuild is over

New York Islanders rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer has made it easy to imagine the awards that might one day adorn his trophy case.

He’s the clear favorite for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie this year, and he’s played so well that it’s not a huge leap to see him capturing a Norris Trophy or two down the line. He has 14 points in 17 games to start his career, and his speed and hockey sense make him leap off the television screen every night.

But if the Islanders are going to move toward true contender status as they come out of this rebuilding process, they’re going to need some of the other prospects in their pipeline to pan out while they continue adding more young talent to their core group to support Schaefer.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by Arthur Staple of The Athletic to discuss Schaefer’s start and what it means for New York’s bigger-picture outlook.

Carter Hutton: Does this speed up the timeline for the Islanders? They’re kind of in that rebuild but then all of a sudden you get this one player who is a franchise player. Do they start to think hey, we’re closer now to get to the promised land and try to speed up that process?

Arthur Staple: I don’t know if you can rush it. You look at their roster and it’s a little bit of a mismatch. They’ve got a pretty large majority of over-30 guys. Expiring contracts for guys like Anders Lee who’s been their captain for a long time and J-G Pageau who might have interest with other teams as they get toward the deadline if the Islanders aren’t in the race. You’ve got Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock who still have a couple years left on their deals but can still play at a high level. I think they went into this season with a very open mind from Mathieu Darche and Patrick Roy about what it was going to be.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…