Matthew Schaefer’s Calder-winning year was one of the best NHL rookie seasons ever

The first major NHL award was handed out on Wednesday, as New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer was awarded the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie during a surprise presentation while Schaefer was on the ABC daytime talk show Good Morning America.

Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2025 NHL Draft, exploded onto the scene with a 23-goal, 36-assist 59-point season that saw him tie Brian Leetch’s record for most goals by a defenseman in a rookie season.

Schaefer was seen as a slam-dunk to win the award, and he did so in historic fashion, becoming the first Calder winner since Teemu Selanne to garner every first-place vote.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed the historic nature of Schaefer’s phenomenal rookie season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Kind of came out of nowhere yesterday. I know he was on Good Morning America, I believe, but Matthew Schaefer officially announced as the winner of the Calder Trophy. No surprise there, it was one of the best rookie seasons we’ve ever seen a defenseman have in the NHL. The moment of his dad and the Martin family all being there in the TV studio to surprise him, I thought was just absolutely awesome as well. So shout out to Matthew Schaefer, a unanimous choice for the Calder Trophy and I don’t think anyone’s gonna argue with that.

Carter Hutton: Yeah, it was pretty cool to see the voting and to see it given out. What I found unique about the situation is you knew that you were gonna win the Calder Trophy, right? But then the emotion of his dad almost breaking down, and he told them, and then him breaking down. It’s like, you know you’re gonna win it but it’s not really real until you get that trophy, and it was pretty cool to see. So a great moment for him and his family that he’ll get to cherish forever because they can’t take that one away.

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