When he was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for October, Schaefer had already accomplished the following:
- Became the youngest defenseman in NHL history (18 years, 34 days) to have a point in his NHL debut (an assist against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 9).
- Became the youngest defenseman (18 years, 36 days) in more than 80 years to score his first NHL goal (Ross Johnstone, 17 years and 328 days, on Feb. 29, 1944).
- Became the second rookie defenseman in NHL history (first since Marek Zidlicky in 2003), to have a season-opening point streak of at least six games.
- Became the youngest defenseman in NHL history (18 years, 46 days) to score a game-winning goal and the second youngest to have a multipoint game (Chris Joseph did it at 18 years, 44 days with the Penguins on Oct. 24, 1987).
- Became the second 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history, first since Phil Housley in 1982-83, to have at least 11 points in his first 11 NHL games.
It continued into this month.
On Nov. 2, Schaefer, at 18 years and 58 days, became the youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a multi-goal game, passing the previous record of 18 years and 248 days by Bobby Orr in 1966.
Then, on Nov. 14 he became the youngest player in NHL history (18 years, 70 days) to score an overtime goal. It also made him the youngest defenseman to score in consecutive games.
"He's changed our team by being here," Darche said.
"The main thing too, outside of the player, he's an outstanding young man," Darche said. "Our players absolutely love him because he's very humble with all the attention and the success he's getting. I've played with players they might have a big personality but sometimes it rubs off the wrong way with the veterans. There's none of that with Matthew. He's very humble. He brings enthusiasm to our team. It's only (23) games into his career, but what he's done so far is extremely impressive."
Darche was asked about Schaefer's ceiling? Does he even have one?
"I don't know," he said. "I'm being careful here not to oversell him, but I think the sky is the limit with his potential. He's already pretty close to the sky with the way he's playing. I think he's got everything to be an extremely impactful franchise defenseman because that's how good he is."
Darche also offered effusive praise for the job Islanders coach Patrick Roy is doing with the Islanders, who are in third place in the Metropolitan Division with a 13-5-2 record since an 0-3-0 start.
