Matthew Schaefer is only 17 years old, but despite this, he is expected to go ahead of all in Friday's draft, and thereafter have a long and successful career in the world's best hockey league.
But the journey to the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, where the NHL draft takes place, has not always been pleasant. Rather the opposite.
"Love to talk about mom"
16 months ago, the Canadian's mother passed away in cancer. A trauma that is difficult for many teenagers to get through and talk about. But not for Matthew Schaefer.
I love to talk about mom, because I get to tell about all our nice memories rather than the sad ones, he says and continues:
She is always with me in thought, and I know that she is always sitting in the front row.
The 17-year-old tells how she has always been there and how she, despite her health, always stood up when Matthew Schaefer and his brother needed someone who could stand in goal when they played in the basement.
I just want to carry on her legacy and continue how she was as a person, says the 17-year-old.
Hit by a train
And it's not just his mother's passing that has marked the super talent's teens.
Two months before his mother passed away, the mother in his host family also died, after being hit by a train in what was later determined to be a suicide. In December 2024, his mentor and the owner of his current club, Erie Otters, also died of a heart attack. At the same time, Schaefer himself broke his collarbone and missed three months of the season.
But through all the sorrow and suffering, the super talent has never given up, and rather grown as a person from it all.
My attitude has changed enormously because of everything that has happened. Just by seeing what my mom went through, and how she always had a smile on her lips despite the cancer trying to break her down. She is the strongest person I've ever known, he concludes.
Facts: NHL draft
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The draft starts on the night of June 28 at 1 am Swedish time, and is held at the Peacock Theatre, Los Angeles. The draft is generally open to players born between January 1, 2005 and September 15, 2007. New York Islanders choose first, followed by San Jose and Chicago. The draft order was drawn among the 16 teams that missed this year's playoffs, the remaining teams have been placed according to their final result this season. Stanley Cup winner Florida thus chooses as 32nd and last team.
