NMSU issues not only in hoops, documents show
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Sara CoelloESPN
New Mexico State University officials have insisted that culture problems in their athletic department were isolated to men’s basketball, but documents obtained by ESPN show an official for the women’s team was found to have sexually harassed a student in the past year, and they reflect at least three other ongoing Title IX investigations involving incidents in the arena that houses athletic offices and an apparent lack of scrutiny in officials’ hiring practices.
All of that is in addition to recent allegations that a former football coach physically abused players under the threat of taking away their scholarships.
NMSU athletics have been under scrutiny since forward Mike Peake shot and killed a University of New Mexico student in what police called self-defense last November. Another investigation followed in February, when a men’s basketball player accused his teammates of a months-long hazing campaign.
Head coach Greg Heiar was fired Feb. 14 after less than a year on the job, and the rest of the men’s basketball season was canceled, but questions linger about both incidents.
The university declined to allow ESPN to interview any school or athletic department officials for this story. School leaders haven’t publicly discussed the situation since mid-February, when then-chancellor Dan Arvizu and athletic director Mario Moccia emphasized that the problems in basketball were not pervasive.
“We have looked and done an expansive review of our programs and everything that I have learned is that our men’s basketball program has been infected — with bad culture, bad behavior,” Arvizu told reporters. “[But] this culture of bad behavior is contained in our men’s basketball, it is not elsewhere.”
However, school records obtained by ESPN under open records laws show that a Title IX investigator took less than a week last year to find that George Ross Jr., the director of operations for women’s basketball, had sexually harassed a student who was working in his office.
The student, who worked as a janitor at the arena, said in her complaint that Ross generally got to his office around 6 a.m., when the building was empty of witnesses. In July 2022, she was vacuuming his office when he asked if she wanted to hang out and began “pushing” to take her out for a beer, according to documents.
The student said she tried to deflect and eventually left to clean a different office, but he followed her there and stood in the doorway, the documents say.
She said Ross told her, “Don’t forget what I said,” then asked three or four more times for a date, according to the documents. The woman felt threatened and told a coworker what happened, and that person took the story to the Title IX office on July 14.
In a follow-up letter, Title IX deputy coordinator Annamarie DeLovato wrote that Ross described the interaction as well-intended “small talk.” In her finding of responsibility, DeLovato gave Ross a warning and, four days after opening the case, issued a no-contact order that barred him from interacting with the student.
Notes from the case file indicate an unidentified person interviewed in the case said Ross’ behavior should prevent him from coaching or being around other women.
But even as DeLovato forbade Ross from speaking to the student and forced him to review basic staff conduct rules, she wrote in her report that the action didn’t rise to the level of violating NMSU’s nondiscrimination policy. That policy specifies that a single act of harassment is serious enough to be considered a violation, and includes harassment that’s both “unwelcome” and “of a sexual nature.”
Ross continues in his job with the women’s team. He did not respond to efforts by ESPN to reach him directly by email and phone.
Gaylene Fasenko, chairperson of the school’s faculty senate, said the allegation and that Ross was not disciplined beyond the warning was “concerning.”
The faculty senate has a hand in writing the administrative rules and is constantly reevaluating them, Fasenko said, but she would not say if the body is discussing any changes to the disciplinary standards cited by DeLovato.
NMSU’s Title IX office is investigating three other complaints of sexual harassment or abuse stemming from reported incidents at the address for Pan American Center, which houses the basketball arena and athletic department offices, according to documents. The school declined to release any details on the incidents to ESPN, including whether they involve athletes or athletic department staff, because the cases are ongoing.
As recently as March 2020, the department dealt with another investigation, this one into then-head football coach Doug Martin. A complaint to the state attorney general alleged that Martin made players, even injured ones, practice in dangerous conditions by threatening to revoke their scholarships.
Martin denied the allegation, and the school cleared him of wrongdoing, but his contract was not renewed after the 2021 season.
Heiar’s tenure was marked by scandal even before the Peake shooting. The first incident, involving one of his earliest hires, came to light before the 2022-23 season started.
After being hired by Heiar in June, defensive analyst Edmond Pryor was arrested in early August at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport upon returning from a team trip. Pryor resigned from New Mexico State on Aug. 22.
According to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Pryor had been fired from a coaching job at a Chicago community college in 2019 after “suspicious documents,” including fake university transcripts, were found on his work computer.
Pryor was accused of forging documents to help accused criminals expand the range of their electronic monitoring anklets or get charges improperly dropped, according to the sheriff’s office and district attorney.
According to New Mexico State records, Pryor listed “other” as his reason for leaving his job in Chicago and gave the school permission to contact past supervisors.
In an interview, Pryor told ESPN that NMSU never brought up the investigation or the circumstances surrounding his departure. The forgery case against him is still pending, according to court records.
“You know, just because there are allegations against a person … doesn’t mean that person is guilty,” Pryor told ESPN in reference to both his case and the NMSU hazing allegations, which he said he has continued to follow.
The November shooting was preceded by an Oct. 15 scuffle, in which at least one member of the men’s basketball team got involved in a fight with rivals from the University of New Mexico during a football game at NMSU. Video of the scuffle showed Peake on the edges of the skirmish before a police officer separated the handful of people involved.
There’s no record that Las Cruces or campus police investigated the brawl, and authorities noted months later that they were still unsure of who started the fight or what it was about.
About a month later, NMSU traveled to Albuquerque to play New Mexico in men’s basketball. The night before the game, three Aggies players snuck out of their downtown hotel after curfew to confront a UNM player who’d fought Peake the previous month, according to state police investigative records. A few seconds into a three-on-one fight, both Peake and 19-year-old Brandon Travis opened fire. Travis was killed.
The ensuing investigation raised more questions than answers about NMSU’s team management, starting with how the players snuck out unnoticed and how Peake took a gun onto the team bus.
Officials also have not said why players were loaded up and sent back to Las Cruces without telling police — prompting troopers to pull them over on a New Mexico roadside — and why coaches reportedly kept police from questioning the players involved and handled evidence.
The district attorney is still investigating NMSU’s response to the shooting, which New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has called troubling.
“This was not handled in, let’s say, the usual fashion,” Torrez told KOAT-TV. “I was very troubled by the way in which the institutions and some of the leaders in those institutions sort of handled the situation.”
The only investigation completed so far was by a private law firm hired by NMSU to investigate the school’s response. The firm generated a two-page report with six suggestions for improvement that focused on reinforcing student-athletes’ respect for curfews and travel etiquette. Both that report and the school’s statement of it emphasized that investigators believed the university had fulfilled its legal obligations.
Heiar, who initially told police that he’d “inherited” Peake and advised them to question veteran assistant coaches instead, announced later in November that he took “full responsibility for what happened.” School announcements and records give no indication that Heiar himself faced any discipline in the matter.
The shooting investigation was still ongoing Feb. 10, when a basketball player accused his teammates of sexually abusing him in a months-long hazing campaign. He told campus police three other players pinned him in the locker room, pulled down his pants, slapped his buttocks and touched his scrotum. The abuse had been ongoing since the summer, according to police records, and generally happened in front of the entire team.
As the team traveled to an event later that day, school officials stopped the bus, suspended the season indefinitely and put Heiar on paid administrative leave.
Two players, Deuce Benjamin and Shakiru Odunewu, this week sued school officials, saying coaching staff and administrators failed to act when they reported the behavior. The lawsuit, which named three regents, Heiar and an assistant, and three former players, says the activity went beyond harassment to sexual assault, battery and false imprisonment and that it remains under investigation by police.
“When the behavior goes too far, and crosses the line into non-consensual touching … it is battery and sexual assault,” the complaint reads. “When the behavior continues for months, it cannot be viewed as an initiation rite; instead, it is harassment and abuse. And when coaches and universities do not take adequate action to prevent or stop such behavior, they have failed their student athletes and are complicit in the abuse.”
School officials didn’t publicly outline Heiar’s role in the hazing or response to it, but they fired him within days, with Arvizu saying that the decision stemmed from the hazing incident. The school pledged to investigate other members of the coaching staff, but officials haven’t publicly spoken about the case since February. Arvizu and the university’s board of regents announced April 7 that they had agreed to a “mutual separation,” and former school president Jay Gogue was appointed interim chancellor.
“This separation is truly mutual,” Arvizu was quoted as saying in a school statement.
At their February news conference, still the only time NMSU leaders have addressed the hazing allegation, Arvizu reinforced his continuous praise of athletic director Moccia, who defended the school’s process for hiring coaches since he arrived in 2015.
But ESPN’s review of school documents raises questions about that process.
Chris Jans, Heiar’s immediate predecessor, was successful on the court with a 122-32 overall record. He came to New Mexico State after he was fired by Bowling Green State University in 2015 for allegedly sexually harassing women at a bar near campus. Jans smacked one woman’s buttocks and made lewd comments to other female patrons, a witness said. He apologized after the school fired him.
That incident wasn’t mentioned in NMSU’s hiring paperwork for Jans, according to documents.
Jans, who worked with Heiar at Chipola College in Florida and Wichita State, is among several head coaches that Heiar worked for that left jobs amid accusations of impropriety.
Heiar coached under Will Wade at LSU from 2017 to 2020. Heiar left soon after the school suspended Wade amid allegations that an FBI wiretap caught the coach appearing to make an offer to a recruit.
Heiar worked at Wichita State from 2011 to 2017 under Gregg Marshall, who resigned after several players accused him of physical and verbal abuse in 2020.
Heiar wasn’t publicly implicated in any of his previous bosses’ scandals, but he was arrested in 2008 and charged with driving under the influence after crashing his car while coaching at Chipola College, according to Florida criminal records. He could not be reached by ESPN.
“Coaching hires are not infallible,” Moccia told reporters in February. “There is not a crystal ball underneath my desk.”
The men’s basketball team is set to resume in 2023-24, although virtually the whole team, including Odunewu, Benjamin, Peake, Jaden Alexander, Doctor Bradley, Kyle Feit, DaJuan Gordon, Shahar Lazar, Issa Muhammad and Mady Traoré, has entered the transfer portal.
Benjamin announced his decision to transfer this week, saying on Twitter that his NMSU dreams had “changed into a nightmare” and adding that new coach Jason Hooten had “recently informed me that it would be in my best interest to continue my education and basketball career elsewhere.”
Hooten, who had been the longtime coach at Sam Houston State, said on his arrival that “a new culture needs to be built — a new start and a new beginning.”
Hooten, Moccia and school leaders all declined to answer questions about how, exactly, they plan to do that.
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Greg Wyshynski
Can a superstar still be a breakout player?
We ask because Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel looks like he’ll obliterate his career high in goals (36) while skating with Ivan Barbashev and the newly acquired Mitch Marner this season — a line with incredible chemistry already at the start of the season.
But ultimately, a superstar can’t be a breakout player. That’s reserved for players who are known but not yet household names. Or players we’ve been waiting to see blossom since their draft year. Or the rookies embarking on their first full season of service, ready to make an unexpected impact.
Here are 30 NHL players poised for a breakout in 2025-26, organized into tiers that explain the circumstances surrounding their potential emergence. Enjoy!
Jump to a tier:
New scenery
New linemates
Young star to superstar
The wait is over
Rookie sensations
Tier 1: New scenery
These players switched teams and could see their stock rise with new scenery.
Matias Maccelli is not Mitch Marner, nor is he expected to suddenly become a 100-point winger because he’s helping to replace Marner in Toronto.
But the 24-year-old former Utah forward, who was a frequent healthy scratch with the Mammoth last season, has a top-line role next to Auston Matthews. If he can be the playmaker he was two seasons ago in Arizona and retain this spot, Maccelli should clear his previous career high in points (57) even if he doesn’t reach the offensive heights of Marner’s years with the Leafs.
The Rangers didn’t want to pay Miller for potential, so they traded the restricted free agent to Carolina, where he signed an eight-year, $60 million deal.
Outside of Florida, no other NHL team has been as adept at leveling up acquired defensemen from other organizations — a credit to coach Rod Brind’Amour’s system and the work of assistant coach Tim Gleason, whose focus is on the blue line.
Miller’s offensive game dropped sharply over the past two seasons. He’ll be positioned to find it again in Carolina — and fulfill the rest of his potential.
Peterka landed on fans’ radars via NHL trade deadline boards, as the pending restricted free agent’s name was circulated last season. Now, fans know him as one of the most significant acquisitions of the nascent Utah Mammoth, who traded Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring to Buffalo for Peterka, 23, before signing him to a five-year, $38 million contract this offseason.
Peterka already had a plum gig in Buffalo, skating next to star center Tage Thompson. How much higher can Peterka’s numbers climb on a line with the explosive Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther on Utah’s top line?
GM Bill Zito has been fond of Tarasov’s potential since Zito’s time as an assistant general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Tarasov was the primary backup to Elvis Merzlikins for the past two seasons before his rights were traded to the Panthers in June.
The Stanley Cup champs lost Vítek Vanecek to Utah in free agency, and traded Spencer Knight to Chicago last season, creating a need to find a backup for and potential successor to Sergei Bobrovsky. Enter Tarasov, who goes from the 24th team in five-on-five defense to the fourth-best squad in the NHL.
If it’s ever going to happen for Tarasov, it’ll happen in Florida behind that system and with Roberto Luongo’s goaltending department to rely on.
When asked about what he wants people to say about him after Year 1 in Philly, Zegras told ESPN: “I want them to go from saying ‘he’s good at hockey’ to ‘he’s a hockey player.'”
Having the support and structure of coach Rick Tocchet should help. But Zegras said to recapture the magic he had when he started his career in Anaheim, he needs to have fun again.
Playing center on a line with Matvei Michkov would help him find his hockey joie de vivre.
Tier 2: New sidekicks
These players could thrive with new linemates.
Benson played a bit with Tage Thompson last season in Buffalo, but is expected to start the season with the Sabres’ top offensive player and Josh Norris, the center they acquired from the Ottawa Senators for Dylan Cozens last season.
The results last season were promising for Benson, 20, entering his third NHL season. If he earns the right to replace Peterka with Thompson, Benson could really pop offensively this season.
Carlsson appeared in this tier last season, but he is here again thanks to Chris Kreider, who was acquired from the New York Rangers in June, waiving his trade protection to join the Ducks. He had 326 goals and 256 points in 883 career games with the Blueshirts, but that output cratered last season because of injuries: just 22 goals and 8 assists in 68 games.
A relatively healthy Kreider, 34, could have an impact on both ends of the ice for Carsson, a 6-3 center who had 20 goals and 25 assists in 76 games for Anaheim last season, his second after being selected second overall in 2023.
Chris Kreider’s loss is Will Cuylle’s gain. Cuylle, 23, moved up to the Rangers’ top line this season with new captain J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad, Kreider’s longtime linemate.
Cuylle had 20 goals and 25 assists in 82 games last season, playing the kind of blunt physical style that immediately endeared him to fans in his first two NHL seasons. That would seem to fit well with Miller’s production as a top-line center.
Not many players finished stronger than rookie Goncalves last season. The rookie had 18 points in his final 33 games in 2024-25, and then added four more points in five playoff games for Tampa Bay.
He has earned the right to see copious amounts of time with Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel on the team’s second line this season. In limited minutes together last season, that trio generated a 63% expected goals rate.
With Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov out for considerable periods of time, the Panthers will look for some offensive solutions from within.
One of them will be Samoskevich, the 22-year-old winger drafted 24th in 2021.
He had 15 goals and 16 assists in 72 games last season for the Stanley Cup champions, skating 13:19 per game. Already, he had two assists on opening night for Florida.
Seeing him have an increased role — and more famous linemates — isn’t out of the question with the short-handed Panthers.
Tier 3: Young star to superstar
You might already know these names. Get ready to hear them a lot more.
Dorofeyev was already slated for this tier before his opening night hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings. But that effort underscored what the 24-year-old can bring to the Golden Knights this season after breaking out with 35 goals in 82 games during 2025-26.
He’s one of the purest shooters on the roster, with a 13.8% shooting percentage on 254 shots last season.
Gauthier goes from the rookie tier to closing in on stardom with the Ducks this season. He had 20 goals and 24 assists in 82 games last season, almost all of them at even strength.
With increased power-play time and a more effective man advantage — Anaheim was a league-worst 11.8% on the power play last season — those numbers could increase dramatically.
“Who is Jackson LaCombe?” was one of the most frequently asked questions from casual NHL fans in the past few months, after his surprise invite to the U.S. Olympic Hockey Orientation Camp and his signing an eight-year, $72 million contract extension earlier this month.
After this season, everyone might know his name: The 24-year-old defenseman had 12 goals and 29 assists in 75 games last season. Though he spent the majority of his time with bruising veteran Radko Gudas, it’d be fun to see him have more time next to fellow youngster Olen Zellweger this season.
Perfetti is our only holdover from last season’s third tier. His season was impressive, with 18 goals and 32 assists in 82 games for the NHL’s best regular-season team. But he hadn’t quite reached the ubiquity of a true breakout yet.
His season has gotten off to a bumpy start, as Perfetti opens the campaign on injured reserve because of an ankle injury. But when he returns, he should be on the Jets’ second scoring line.
Stankoven was the key player coming back to Carolina from Dallas in the Mikko Rantanen trade. Stankoven had shown to be a tenacious, if undersized, forward for the Stars after scoring 12 goals during his rookie season.
The Hurricanes are hoping he can fill a critical hole in their lineup at second-line center.
The addition of Nikolaj Ehlers on the Canes’ top line means that Andrei Svechnikov will shift down to the second line, likely across from promising winger Jackson Blake. If Stankoven clicks with them, it’s good news for Carolina and for those waiting for the 22-year-old forward’s true breakout.
Tier 4: The wait is over
Players we’ve been waiting to see break out that finally will.
At some point, Clarke is a going to force the Kings to take the training wheels off him. The 6-2 defenseman, drafted eighth overall in 2021, had 33 points in 78 games last season in 16:17 of average ice time.
He was on the plus side of shot attempts, shots created and expected goals percentage relative to his teammates last season. He’s always been the future of their blue line. Increasingly, that future is now.
Jackets fans have anticipated the moment when Jet Greaves takes flight and takes over the Columbus crease from incumbent Elvis Merzlikins. He was brilliant in 11 games last season, going 7-2-2 with a .938 save percentage and 14.5 (!) goals saved above expected.
He got the opening start for Columbus this week. It could be the first of many this season for the 24-year-old, who signed with the Jackets in 2022 as an undrafted free agent.
Kasper was set up for success in his rookie season, spending a good portion of his season (273 minutes) with Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond on the team’s top line. For an encore, Kasper will be asked to drive his own line this season, potentially in the middle of Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane.
That line actually produced strong defensive results (1.2 goals against per 60 minutes) last season to go along with its offensive pop.
Blackhawks fans probably exhaled a bit — as did a certain Chicago center drafted first overall in 2023 — when Nazar rolled to nine points in his last eight games and then 12 points in Team USA’s history-making win at the IIHF world championships.
Connor Bedard needs all the help he can get. Nazar enters the 2025-26 season as the team’s No. 2 center, driving a line that can help take the pressure off the phenom in the Windy City.
Savoie was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in July 2024 in the Ryan McLeod trade, and percolated with the Bakersfield Condors last season.
As the Oilers seek low-cost, high-talent players to populate around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Savoie fits the template after a solid playmaking in the AHL.
He was drafted in 2022. This is finally the moment for the rookie make his mark after only playing five NHL games before this season.
Overlooked thanks to the Calder-nominated season from first overall pick Macklin Celebrini was an outstanding rookie campaign from his linemate Smith. The fourth overall pick in 2023, Smith had 45 points (18 goals, 27 assists) in 74 games for the Sharks, skating to a minus-15.
They should pair up again on the Sharks’ top line. Given the expectations around Celebrini taking another leap in points production, Smith should jump right with him.
Tier 5: Rookie sensations
First-year players who aren’t waiting for their breakout.
Once the goalie of the future in Nashville, the Sharks acquired Askarov in August 2024 as their new hope between the pipes. The majority of his action was with the AHL Barracuda last season, but the 13 games he played in San Jose were sold: Askarov was the only Sharks goalie to finish on the positive side of goals saved above expected outside of Mackenzie Blackwood.
It’s expected that the 23-year-old rookie could get most of the starts for coach Ryan Warsofsky’s team this season.
The preseason favorite to win the Calder Trophy, Demidov arrived in the NHL late last season after having been a human highlight reel in the KHL.
A creative puck-handler and explosive offensive talent, the Canadiens are relying on him to provide goal-scoring spark for a team that was 17th in goals per game last season.
The 24-year-old made his NHL debut last postseason, appearing in four playoff games for the Hurricanes.
At 6-3 and around 220 pounds, he’s a ferocious hitter who could become one of the league’s best young defenseman if his offensive game blossoms.
A terrific puck-moving defenseman with a great hockey IQ. The anticipation is that Buium, 19, could become the Wild’s power-play quarterback before too long.
The Wild have him partnered up with steady veteran Jared Spurgeon to start.
If he sticks around rather than being sent back to the OHL, Parekh has the stuff to be one of the best young offensive defensemen in the NHL.
And one hopes he does stick around, because what does a defenseman who had 107 points in 61 games last season have left to prove?
Snuggerud gave the Blues a nice preview at the end of last season with four points in seven games after his career at the University of Minnesota was over.
The son of former NHLer Dave Snuggerud, the playmaking winger should bolster the Blues’ secondary scoring.
The 6-4 defenseman is going to have a big role this season in Chicago, playing top-pairing minutes and getting a chance to run the Blackhawks’ top power play.
The first overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft, Schaefer is an elite offense-driving defenseman with his passing and his skating. The fact that he’s going to bring a bit of charisma to the Islanders too is the cherry on top.
The 24-year-old earned a spot here not only for some tantalizing moments as a Canuck, but for his opening night shutout in Madison Square Garden.
Silovs was named one of Team Latvia’s first six players for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Mike Sullivan has another souvenir to add to an already large personal hockey collection after being presented the game puck following his first victory as coach of the New York Rangers.
It might not match the two Stanley Cup titles he won during his 10-year tenure as the Pittsburgh Penguins coach, but the significance of the 4-0 victory over Buffalo wasn’t lost on Sullivan on Thursday night.
“It’s humbling,” said Sullivan, who is from Massachusetts and the only U.S.-born coach to win at least two Cups.
“I’ve said this on a number of occasions since I got the job that it’s an incredible honor to be the head coach of the New York Rangers, a franchise that has such history to it,” Sullivan added. “It’s just a privilege that I don’t take for granted.”
The victory was the 480th of Sullivan’s career and came two days after the Rangers opened with a 3-0 home loss to the Penguins. Sullivan was fired by Pittsburgh after missing the playoffs for a third straight season, before almost immediately landing in New York after the Rangers fired Peter Laviolette.
For Sullivan, he’s getting a fresh start in a familiar place after spending four seasons as a Rangers assistant under John Tortorella. And he’s tasked with the responsibility of providing structure and discipline to a team that unraveled both on off the ice in missing the playoffs last year.
The win over Buffalo was but a start for Sullivan, who got in a laugh recounting how newly appointed captain J.T. Miller presented him the puck.
“[Miller] made a joke about how long our video meetings are,” Sullivan said. “But they’ll continue to be long until we get on the same page.”
Though there’s still much to work on, Sullivan was impressed by his team’s response after a lackadaisical outing against Pittsburgh, which was sealed by two empty-net goals.
On Thursday, the Rangers outplayed the Sabres through much of the first period in building a 1-0 lead on Alex Lafreniere’s goal 11:43 in. Coupled with Igor Shersterkin’s 37-save outing, the Rangers closed strong with three goals in the final five minutes.
“I’m excited about the group of players that we have here. I think there’s a certain enthusiasm around the team right now since Day 1 of training camp,” Sullivan said. “It’s tangible, we can feel it. And I think we’re building a relationship with the players right now that will be meaningful moving forward.”
PITTSBURGH — Matthew Schaefer jumped onto the darkened ice at PPG Paints Arena and, along with New York Islanders teammate Maxim Shabanov, took the traditional solo lap every player makes before his NHL debut.
It’s the only time the 18-year-old Schaefer looked like a rookie all night during New York’s 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh.
Confident and poised from the opening faceoff, the top pick in the June draft wasted little time showcasing why the Islanders coveted him after the balls bounced their way during the draft lottery.
Schaefer needed all of 12 minutes to collect the first point of his career, making a deft pass from the half wall to Jonathan Drouin in the slot. Drouin’s knuckler fluttered by Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry to pull New York even.
“Our team is so easy to make plays with, everyone is in the right spot,” Schaefer said with a shrug. “I found [Drouin] there, and it was an easy pass to him and of course he puts it in the back of the net.”
Islanders coach Patrick Roy didn’t hesitate to go to Schaefer, who played more than seven minutes in the opening period alone. Schaefer finished with 17:15 of ice time in all, including some with the New York net empty late as the Islanders tried to tie it.
“I thought he was really good,” Roy said of Schaefer. “He was good at the end. Throwing pucks at the net. I thought that he seemed very comfortable, very confident out there. So I’m very pleased with him.”
Schaefer, who had around 30 friends and family in attendance, admitted there were some jitters during his first couple of shifts, but he didn’t exactly genuflect in the direction of Penguins icons Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. The club’s big three are entering their 20th season playing alongside each other, a run that began before Schaefer was born.
Although Schaefer isn’t entering the league with the same external expectations that followed Crosby two decades ago — when Crosby himself arrived in the league at 18 as the top pick in the draft — Schaefer understands how important his arrival and development are for a team that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup in more than 40 years.
Yes, it’s cool that he made the club out of training camp barely a month after turning 18. He’s not here to sell tickets and generate interest, but to help the Islanders take a step forward in the competitive Metropolitan Division sooner rather than later.
Near breathless as he talked after becoming the second-youngest NHL defenseman to make his debut in 70 years, Schaefer wasn’t as interested in trying to put the moment in perspective as he was regretting the result.
The Islanders controlled the game for extended stretches and threw 38 shots at Jarry. Save for a couple of costly breakdowns in front of their own net — which allowed Malkin and Crosby to work their magic — the Islanders played with speed and purpose, which they hope offers a blueprint for what’s to come, the new kid included.
“I thought we brought it tonight,” Schaefer said. “Wish we could have got the win. Hate losing. Now we know and we’re going to learn from it and focus on our next game. But I thought it was a great first game for us. I just wish we got the win.”
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