SAN JOSE, Calif. — In the lead-up to the draft, when Matthew Schaefer was asked what he knew about the Islanders, answers usually mentioned the players with whom he happened to share an agent.
That reflected something a little uncomfortable.
The Islanders, even with the new arena and even with recent success, were still a franchise that didn’t have much of a profile around the league.
Players who played there had plenty of good things to say and loved the area.
Those who didn’t tended to include Long Island on no-trade lists.
Brayden Schenn, who had a 15-team no-trade list this season, was one of them.
Now, the first thing everyone associates with the Islanders is Schaefer.
So when Schenn was asked to waive his no-trade clause to come to the Islanders on Friday, the 18-year-old defenseman was a huge reason why he said “yes.”
“That’s no secret,” Schenn said before the Islanders faced San Jose on Saturday. “He’s world-class. He’s elite. You hear a lot about him; you see his highlights. And I think you really learn what a guy’s all about when you start playing with him. The guys in this room obviously speak very, very highly of him, how dynamic [he is]. We all know what he does as a player.
“I think what guys say is how good of a person he is, how fun it is to be around him. When superstars in this league are good guys that take care of his teammates, guys are gonna want to be around him. And guys are only gonna want to come to the New York Islanders in the future just because of his talent and character.”
That’s music to the ears of fans who have watched their Islanders struggle to attract free agents for a long time.
Schaefer is not the only reason to come and was not the only reason Schenn agreed to the move.
He has relationships with Thomas Hickey, Josh Bailey, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin.
He’d heard good things about the community.
The Islanders are competing for a playoff spot.
That’s all appealing.
Schaefer, though, was the first thing he brought up when listing off the reasons.
“What enticed me about this team, if you look, it’s a franchise defenseman that’s obviously taking the league by storm,” he said before referencing standout Ilya Sorokin. “Great goaltender, lots of skill up front. When you always play the Islanders two times a year for the past nine or 10 years, you always knew you were gonna get a tough game.”
Part of the goal in acquiring Schenn ahead of Friday’s trade deadline was to get tougher and harder to play against.
He lined up Saturday between Cal Ritchie and Ondrej Palat on the second line.
Taking some responsibility off the 21-year-old Ritchie’s shoulders is a nice side effect.
“I think he’s gonna be a great mentor to Cal,” coach Patrick Roy said, noting how much dialogue the two had just in one morning skate. “I think that’s gonna help him. It’s nice to see that kind of leadership.”
Schenn, who bargained with Simon Holmstrom to keep the No. 10, will get a quick homecoming in St. Louis on Tuesday night before playing his first home game with the Islanders against the Kings on Friday.
He’s still in the middle of a whirlwind that started two days ago when Blues general manager Doug Armstrong called him with a heads up of where this could end up going.
“Even before that, we all knew with where we were at, it’s not this year, it’s previous years, too, in St. Louis, where they weren’t pretty happy with the direction of the team,” Schenn said. “I was there for a long time. They’re going all 20-, 22-year-olds. I’m looking forward to coming to a team chasing a playoff spot. You can just tell right now it’s a great group of guys that have fun playing for one another. Good to be a part of the group.”
