Andrew Gross: Managing Matthew Schaefer's ice time will be a season-long challenge for the Islanders
Matthew Schaefer of the Islanders shoots the puck during the first period against the New Jersey Devils at UBS Arena on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Pete DeBoer has every reason to allot heavy ice time to Matthew Schaefer, especially now with Alexander Romanov out for the season. But having the 19-year-old defenseman, already one of the NHL’s top players, fresh and effective for the late-season push is crucial to the team’s playoff chances.
What’s a coach to do?
“It’s hard not to play those guys,” DeBoer said before the Islanders faced Chicago at UBS Arena on Thursday night when Newsday asked about balancing in-game needs with the full-season big picture. “It’s hard to keep those guys off the ice and it’s particularly hard when you’re losing games because you know those guys are the difference makers.
“But we’ve been very conscious [about it] from Day 1. We’ve taken his penalty killing away and used other guys. Now with the Romanov injury, that might be in flux a little bit. We’ll see how that goes.”
So this becomes a delicate dance for DeBoer with Thursday’s match the first glimpse into exactly how Romanov’s second straight season-ending injury — this time he needs surgery to repair the ACL in his right knee after battling back from shoulder surgery — will impact Schaefer’s minutes.
Schaefer, remaining on his off-side despite the left-handed Romanov’s injury, started Thursday’s match skating with fellow left-handed shot Logan Stanley as DeBoer was forced to reconfigure his defense pairs. He reunited Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock and moved right-handed Tony DeAngelo to his off-side with fellow righty Scott Mayfield, who made his season’s debut after being a healthy scratch the first three games.
In other words, this is very much a work in progress.
“I feel for Romy and how hard he’s worked to come back,” Stanley said. “I think everyone is pretty gutted for him. It’s going to have to be a collective effort to eat some of those minutes. But it’s cool seeing your name beside [Schaefer’s] this morning. He’s obviously world class and few people in the league do what he does out there. I’ll try and get him the puck.”
Schaefer averaged a team-high 24:27 of ice time through the first three games, including 25:03 in Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden with Romanov exiting in the third period after a collision with Mika Zibanejad.
But DeBoer used Schaefer, who plays on the top defense pair and quarterbacks the first power-play unit, for a judicious 20:34 in Saturday’s 6-0 win over the visiting Devils. That confirms DeBoer — who took over for Patrick Roy with four games remaining last season — is very cognizant of Schaefer’s ice time and is trying to manage it appropriately.
Last season, Schaefer led the Islanders with an average ice time of 24:41, setting a career high with 31:59 in a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to Chicago at UBS Arena on March 24.
So what, if anything, fatigues Schaefer?
“It’s a good question,” Schaefer told Newsday. “When you’re in the game, adrenaline, you’re like, ‘I don’t care if I’m tired, I’m going to go out there and shut off that ‘I’m tired’ mentality.’ There can be times where it’s a very long shift and I’m a little gassed but I try not to show it. I try to use everything I’ve got to empty the tank in that shift so I can give it my all.”
Schaefer added he recovers quickly on the bench after a tiring shift. The joys of being 19.
By the way, Stanley nailed it when Newsday asked him his career best for ice time, correctly recalling the 28:13 he played for the Jets at Anaheim on Feb. 27.
“We had some injuries,” Stanley said. “It was a couple of weeks there where I was in the high 20s and I was exhausted. After the game you’re tired but when you’re in it, your heart is racing, your adrenaline is going and you don’t really feel it. It’s way easier playing more minutes than sitting and waiting for your next shift.”
The reason it’s so attractive for DeBoer to over-rely on Schaefer is simply because the Islanders look so different — so much more dangerous — with Schaefer on the ice. Slight hyperbole but, against the Rangers, it really seemed the only time the Islanders could effectively break out of their own zone was during Schaefer’s shifts.
That should be alleviated whenever top-six forward Mathew Barzal (left knee) is able to return after missing training camp. Barzal began skating on his own on Thursday.
“He’s a key player and having him up front will help us all around,” Schaefer said. “He’s been battling something so for him to start feeling better and get close to 100%, it’s going to be awesome. Seeing him skating is awesome.”
The inclination for DeBoer is to have Schaefer skate heavy minutes frequently during a game.
But it’s a long season. DeBoer will have to temper that urge as best he can.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
