LOS ANGELES — There was one straightforward decision for Mathieu Darche this weekend.
Amid what has become a hugely consequential weekend for the Islanders, the club’s biggest decision was their easiest.
The Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick at Friday night’s draft here in downtown Los Angeles, making official what’s been the expectation for weeks.
Schaefer, who doesn’t turn 18 until September, is just the second defenseman the Islanders have ever drafted first overall, with Denis Potvin being the first in 1973.
The club held the first pick this year for the first time since 2009, when they selected John Tavares.
“It’d mean a lot,” Schaefer said Thursday of going first overall. “I want to get drafted, but I also want to be the best player. [It’s] a thing that comes to your mind, obviously, you can’t really control anything right now.”
The Stoney Creek, Ontario native played just 17 games last season with the OHL’s Erie Otters and two more with Team Canada at the World Juniors, where he was Canada’s best defenseman before crashing into the net and breaking his clavicle, an injury that kept him out for the rest of the season.
Schaefer confirmed on Thursday that he’s since been fully cleared and will be on the ice for development camp starting Monday.
Despite limited playing time, Schaefer rose to the top of draft boards this season thanks to the way he dominated when he was on the ice.
Scouting reports and experts say he is a superlative skater and puck-mover who can play both ways and on both specialty teams.
His character also proved a decisive factor throughout the process. Schaefer’s mother, Jennifer, died of cancer last year just two months after his billet mom, Emily Matson, died of suicide. Schaefer has told the story again and again throughout the weeks and months leading up to the draft, showing astonishing maturity in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
“My mom’s gonna go right into my head when I get picked, cause I wish she could be here,” Schaefer said Thursday. “There’s gonna be a lot of things that play a part in it. It’s more happy tears than anything.”
The lefty, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 185 pounds, will need to put on some muscle and is not a lock to start next season with the Islanders.
However, that is his goal and it is certainly hard to see him returning to Erie to play another season in a league he’s outgrown.
Schaefer also said Thursday he has yet to speak with any colleges about playing in the NCAA next season.
While trading Noah Dobson earlier on Friday opened up a spot on the blue line for the Islanders, Schaefer does not look like the solution there unless he’s playing his off side.
Adam Boqvist, a lefty, played the right side multiple times last season, so could be a possibility to do so next season, or the Islanders could go to free agency to address that spot.
Regardless, the path will be open in development camp and training camp for Schaefer to secure a spot in the lineup on opening night.
“It’s every kid’s dream, especially mine,” Schaefer said. “You work so hard up to this point and to hear it, it’s obviously really cool, but the work starts now.”