This hasn’t been seen since Teemu Selänne – an astonishing trick in the NHL!
Canadian defenseman Matthew Schaefer has been crowned the NHL’s best rookie after an exceptionally impressive debut season. The 18-year-old top prospect of the New York Islanders won the Calder Trophy with a rare landslide of votes.
Schaefer became only the second player in NHL history to be unanimously selected as Rookie of the Year. Previously, this achievement was only reached by Finnish hockey legend Teemu Selänne in the 1992–93 season.
Schaefer finished the regular season with an astounding 23 goals for a defenseman and collected a total of 59 points on the Islanders’ blue line. This goal total tied him for the NHL rookie defensemen’s single-season goal record, which was previously held solely by Brian Leetch.
At the same time, Schaefer also surpassed Phil Housley‘s record for the most points scored by an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history.
With the award, Schaefer also became the youngest Calder Trophy winner in history. At the time of the achievement, he was 18 years and 223 days old, which was enough to break Nathan MacKinnon’s previous record by one day.
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