LOS ANGELES — The New York Islanders selected gifted defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft Friday night.
High-scoring center Michael Misa went second to the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks took Swedish forward Anton Frondell third at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
The Islanders maneuvered their way into three picks in the top 17, but they surprised nobody by using their first No. 1 selection since 2009 on the 17-year-old Schaefer. The 6-foot-2 blueliner from Hamilton, Ontario, spent the past two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters.
He played only 17 games last season — collecting seven goals and 22 points — before breaking his collarbone in December, but Schaefer’s acumen on both ends of the ice still propelled him to the top of nearly all draft boards.
An elite puck mover and brilliant skater with a top-end, two-way transition game, Schaefer has great poise, posture and edges that allow him to not only carry play from end to end but close quickly on opponents, shut down the rush and be a playmaker in his own right.
Schaefer persevered through tragedy to reach this milestone. Schaefer’s mother, Jennifer, died of cancer 16 months ago, and he also endured the recent deaths of the Otters’ owner, Jim Waters, and the mother of his billet family.
When Schaefer pulled on his Islanders sweater for the first time on the stage, he kissed a pink ribbon patch on the chest representing breast cancer awareness before breaking into tears.
“I appreciate you taking a chance on me,” Schaefer said in a videoconference call with the Islanders’ front office. “I promise I won’t disappoint, but especially I just want to say to my mom and all my family and friends, thanks for everything.”
The Islanders added the patch specifically for Schaefer, along with his mother’s initials.
“Seeing the ribbon on my jersey, and I saw a picture, it has J.S. on my back here,” Schaefer said. “You can see just how high-class the organization is. It really means a lot. I wish my mom could be here today. Obviously, she’s with me here in spirit. … Cancer sucks, and it’s not fun. She didn’t feel the best, but she was always the happiest in the family. She would do anything for us.”
Schaefer is just the fifth defenseman picked No. 1 overall in the NHL draft since 2000, and the first since Owen Power went to Buffalo in 2021. Schaefer also is the second Erie product to go No. 1, joining Connor McDavid in 2015.
“First and foremost, we drafted him because he’s an unbelievable hockey player,” Isles general manager Mathieu Darche said. “Obviously, the human being is exceptional. [For] a 17-year-old to have that resilience, maturity with everything that he’s gone through is beyond impressive, honestly. I haven’t met many 17-year-old kids that act like him. But at the end of the day, we’re drafting him because he’s a hell of a hockey player.”
Schaefer got two new teammates when the Islanders used the 16th pick on Swedish forward Victor Eklund and nabbed defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson with the 17th selection.
Both Pennsylvania teams also were busy in Los Angeles. The Philadelphia Flyers grabbed forward Porter Martone sixth before trading up for the 12th selection to get forward Jack Nesbitt, while the Pittsburgh Penguins maneuvered up and down the draft to control three picks in the top 24, swinging two trades while drafting forwards Benjamin Kindel, Bill Zonnon and William Horcoff.
Misa tore up the OHL last season as the captain of the Saginaw Spirit, scoring 62 goals and 134 points in just 65 games. While wearing a teal jersey for the first time, he repeated his desire to play in the NHL next season if he can crack the roster of a struggling Sharks organization that chose Will Smith fourth in 2023 and got center Macklin Celebrini with the first pick a year ago.
“He’s an ultracompetitive kid who’s been playing up a level, up a birth year his whole life,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said about Misa. “He wants to be the best. He wants to play against the best, so I’m sure this is what he wants to do, but you know we’re not going to hand him anything. He’s got to come into training camp and try and take a job.”
An offensive force whose keen defensive instinct matches his natural scoring and playmaking skills, Misa, at 6-1, brings physicality and bodily sacrifice as well to give him a truly well-rounded game. His move permanently back to center this season also showed how he will insert himself through all facets of the game and he can fill that top-six-forward role in the NHL.
Frondell excelled as a 17-year-old forward last season with Djurgården in Sweden’s second division, showing off a two-way game that allowed him to push Misa on some draft boards. At 6-2, he could provide a large complement to Connor Bedard.
Frondell is the eighth Swedish player to be a top-three selection, joining elite company including Victor Hedman, Mats Sundin and the Sedin twins.
Center Caleb Desnoyers went fourth to the Utah Mammoth, who moved up 10 spots in the draft lottery.
The Nashville Predators chose physical forward Brady Martin with the fifth pick before trading up for the 21st selection to get Kitchener defenseman Cameron Reid. Martin skipped the draft, staying home on his family farm in Ontario.
Fans of the host Los Angeles Kings inside the theater got fired up for their club to make the 24th selection — which the Kings promptly traded to Pittsburgh for the 31st and 59th selections, sparking groans from the crowd. Los Angeles eventually chose defenseman Henry Brzustewicz from the Memorial Cup champion London Knights in general manager Ken Holland’s first selection for his new team.
The Penguins created the majority of the surprises in the first round, first by choosing Calgary Hitmen center Kindel with the 11th pick — much higher than many prognosticators expected.
Pittsburgh then traded the 12th pick, which originally belonged to the New York Rangers, to Philadelphia for the 22nd and 31st picks. The Flyers wanted the 6-4 Nesbitt, a fast-rising center from the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires last season.
The Penguins also gave a second-round pick to the Kings and swapped first-rounders so they could move up for Horcoff — whose father is former NHL player Shawn Horcoff — with the 24th pick.
The Anaheim Ducks took a chance on forward Roger McQueen with the 10th selection. The 6-5 McQueen is widely thought to have enough talent to become an elite center, but the Saskatchewan native has been slowed by a back injury that scared off some teams.
Two goalies were chosen in the first round for the first time since 2021 and only the third time in 13 years. Columbus grabbed Russia’s Pyotr Andreyanov with the 20th pick, making him the highest-picked European goalie in fourth years, and San Jose added goalie Joshua Ravensbergen with the 30th selection.
The Boston Bruins used the seventh pick on Boston College center James Hagens, the consensus top prospect for this draft a year ago.
Hagens, a Long Island native coveted by many Islanders fans, slid down the board just enough to reach the Bruins, whose pick was announced by a video of Adam Sandler in character as Happy Gilmore, complete with his signature Bruins jersey.
“I’m so excited to be back in Boston, and to have Adam Sandler make the pick, that was special,” said Hagens, who cites “Happy Gilmore” as his favorite movie. “I love to win, and I’m really glad that I’m in Boston.”
Hagens combines playmaking and naturally smooth skating ability to be one of the most effective finesse players in the draft. He excels in small areas and always has the puck on his stick, boasting excellent vision as a dangerous puck handler and passing threat, with awareness to find — and hit — teammates in open ice.
This year’s draft lacked the centralized structure that has long been a staple. The 32 teams’ various executives are mostly at home, not strewn across the draft floor. The majority of the picks were taken to a video room just behind the stage to exchange televised pleasantries with their new front offices through videoconferencing.
ESPN’s Kristen Shilton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
OCEANPORT, N.J. — Journalism launched a dramatic rally to win the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
It was Journalism’s first race since the Triple Crown. He was the only colt to contest all three legs, winning the Preakness while finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
Heavily favored at 2-5 odds, Journalism broke poorly under jockey Umberto Rispoli and wound up trailing the early leaders. He kicked into gear rounding the final turn to find Gosger and Goal Oriented locked in a dogfight for the lead. It appeared one of them would be the winner until Journalism roared down the center of the track to win by a half-length.
“You feel like you’re on a diesel,” Rispoli said. “He’s motoring and motoring. You never know when he’s going to take off. To do what he did today again, it’s unbelievable.”
Gosger held on for second, a neck ahead of Goal Oriented.
The Haskell victory was Journalism’s sixth in nine starts for Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy, and earned the colt a berth in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott took advantage of heavy rain at Dover Motor Speedway to earn the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
Elliott and the rest of the field never got to turn a scheduled practice or qualifying lap on Saturday because of rain that pounded the concrete mile track. Dover is scheduled to hold its first July race since the track’s first one in 1969.
Elliott has two wins and 10 top-five finishes in 14 career races at Dover.
Logano is set to become the youngest driver in NASCAR history with 600 career starts.
Logano will be 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. He will top seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months.
The midseason tournament that pays $1 million to the winner pits Ty Dillon vs. John Hunter Nemechek and Reddick vs. Gibbs in the head-to-head challenge at Dover.
The winners face off next week at Indianapolis. Reddick is the betting favorite to win it all, according to Sportsbook.
DOVER, Del. — NASCAR race team owner Denny Hamlin remained undeterred in the wake of another setback in court, vowing “all will be exposed” in the scheduled December trial as part of 23XI Racing’s federal antitrust suit against the auto racing series.
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to continue racing with charters while they battle NASCAR in court, meaning their six cars will race as open entries this weekend at Dover, next week at Indianapolis and perhaps longer than that in a move the teams say would put them at risk of going out of business.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell denied the teams’ bid for a temporary restraining order, saying they will make races over the next couple of weeks and they won’t lose their drivers or sponsors before his decision on a preliminary injunction.
Bell left open the possibility of reconsidering his decision if things change over the next two weeks.
After this weekend, the cars affected may need to qualify on speed if 41 entries are listed – a possibility now that starting spots have opened.
The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.
“If you want answers, you want to understand why all this is happening, come Dec. 1, you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for,” Hamlin said Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway. “All will be exposed.”
23XI, which is co-owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan, and FRM filed their federal suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.
Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month, sending the case back to Bell.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they were prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. They sought the restraining order Monday, claiming that through discovery they learned NASCAR planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”
Hamlin said none of the setbacks have made him second-guess the decision to file the lawsuit.
“Dec. 1 is all that matters. Mark your calendar,” Hamlin said. “I’d love to be doing other things. I’ve got a lot going on. When I get in the car (today), nothing else is going to matter other than that. I always give my team 100%. I always prepare whether I have side jobs, side hustles, more kids, that all matters, but I always give my team all the time that they need to make sure that when I step in, I’m 100% committed.”
Reddick, who has a clause that allows him to become a free agent if the team loses its charter, declined comment Saturday on all questions connected to his future and the lawsuit. Hamlin also declined to comment on Reddick’s future with 23XI Racing.
Reddick, one of four drivers left in NASCAR’s $1 million In-season Challenge, was last year’s regular-season champion and raced for the Cup Series championship in the season finale. But none of the six drivers affected by the court ruling are locked into this year’s playoffs.
Making the field won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home and that means lost revenue and a lost chance to win points in the standings.
“Nothing changes from my end, obviously, and nothing changes from inside the shop,” Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith said. “There’s not typically even enough cars to worry about transferring in.”
Smith, 24th in the standings and someone who would likely need a win to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs, said he stood behind Jenkins in his acrimonious legal fight that has loomed over the stock car series for months.
“I leave all that up to them,” Smith said, “but my job is to go get the 38 the best finish I can.”
