The NHL Network is currently counting down the top 50 players across the entire NHL prior to the puck dropping on the 2026-27 season in just a few weeks.
The next batch of players dropped Sunday night, continuing with the NHL Network’s ongoing schedule of revealing 10 players at a time each Sunday night through September 27, when plays #10-1 will be revealed.
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This week, the NHL Network revealed that New York Islanders’ former-rookie, now sophomore-sensation Matthew Schaefer checks in as the 28th-best player in the league today.
Schaefer, 19, will be the highest-ranked Islander on the list, joined by superstar goaltender Ilya Sorokin, whom the NHL Network placed at #35 in last week’s ranking revelation.
The sensational defenseman found himself placed just ahead of established stars and 2026 Olympians Jake Sanderson and Moritz Seider, while being placed exactly one spot behind Lane Hutson.
Schaefer posted 23 goals and 59 points in 82 games last season, shattering every record for scoring for an 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history.
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After rewriting the history books, Schaefer went on to win the 2026 Calder Trophy, becoming the first Islander to do so since Mathew Barzal in 2018.
Even with the record-setting year, the young phenom only wants to get, in his own words, “Bigger, Stronger, & Faster.”
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