The National Hockey League announced on May 13 that New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer has been awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy for the 2025-26 season. The trophy is given each year to “the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League.”
The award highlights Schaefer’s impact as a rookie and his significant contributions to both his team and league records during his first season. The recipient was chosen by a poll of Professional Hockey Writers’ Association members at the end of the regular season.
Schaefer becomes the sixth player from the Islanders franchise to receive this honor, joining Mat Barzal (2018), Bryan Berard (1997), Mike Bossy (1978), Bryan Trottier (1976), and Denis Potvin (1974). He is also only the fourth defenseman who was drafted first overall to win this award, with three of those four having played for the Islanders. At just 18 years and 223 days old on the final day of regular play, he sets a new record as the youngest Calder Trophy winner in NHL history.
During his rookie campaign, Schaefer recorded 59 points—23 goals and 36 assists—across all 82 games, tying Brian Leetch’s record for most goals by a rookie defenseman in one season. He set additional NHL records including most points by an eighteen-year-old defenseman, highest average time on ice by an eighteen-year-old skater at over twenty-four minutes per game, and most overtime points by a teenage defenseman. On March 24, he logged nearly thirty-two minutes on ice—the highest ever tracked for any NHL teenager since official statistics began.
Within team history, Schaefer established franchise highs for goals, points, power-play goals, overtime goals, and game-winning goals by a rookie defenseman in one season. He also became only the fifth rookie—and third rookie blueliner—in Islanders history to appear in every game during a full schedule.
