Matthew Schaefer makes Islanders' roster to start the season

General manager/executive vice president Mathieu Darche made official on Monday what both he and Matthew Schaefer strongly desired from the moment the Islanders selected him first overall in the NHL Draft in Los Angeles on June 27.

The 18-year-old defenseman has made the team out of training camp. He’ll be in the lineup when the Islanders open the regular season on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

“He had a great camp,” Darche said on a Zoom teleconference shortly after the Islanders released their roster ahead of the NHL’s Monday afternoon deadline. “You saw it all. His skating abilities. He got better as camp went on. So he’s proven that he deserves to be in the lineup on Thursday in Pittsburgh. We’ll go from there.

“You’ve seen teams having young guys. They keep them up and they manage the workload. But like I said from the start, the way he’s going to play is going to dictate what we do. He’s completely earned his spot on the team and in the lineup on Oct. 9.”

Schaefer, who has been paired with Scott Mayfield since training camp opened, can play up to nine games in the NHL without the first season of his three-year, $2.93 million entry-level deal counting against future seasons. But Schaefer is not age-eligible to be sent to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, so the only option would be to return him to his junior team, Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. That would offer few benefits to Schaefer’s development.

Schaefer and Mayfield will be the Islanders’ third defense pair. Schaefer, with his elite skating ability, strong playmaking skills, defensive responsibility and advanced maturity, also likely will see time on the second power-play unit.

The 6-2, 186-pound Schaefer didn’t turn 18 until Sept. 5 and was limited to 17 games (seven goals, 15 assists) for Erie last season after breaking his collarbone while playing for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships in December.

Overall, there were no surprises on the Islanders’ initial 23-man roster.

Isaiah George, who had a goal and four assists in 33 games for the Islanders last season as a rookie, was reassigned to their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport as the final cut rather than being kept on the NHL roster as an eighth defenseman.

“I was happy with my overall performance in training camp, rookie camp, too,” George said before the roster was announced. “I thought in the games, I was really consistent shift to shift, which I was happy about.”

“I’d be surprised if we don’t see him during the year at some point,” Darche said. “He’s done a great job.”

The Islanders are carrying 14 forwards (Mathew Barzal, Casey Cizikas, Jonathan Drouin, Anthony Duclair, Marc Gatcomb, Emil Heineman, Simon Holmstrom, Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, Kyle MacLean, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kyle Palmieri, Max Shabanov and Max Tsyplakov), seven defensemen (Adam Boqvist, Tony DeAngelo, Mayfield, Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock, Alexander Romanov and Schaefer) and two goalies (David Rittich and Ilya Sorokin).

Darche said he expects rookie center Calum Ritchie (lower-body injury), acquired from the Avalanche as part of the Brock Nelson trade, to resume skating in the next two to three days.

“I think we have a lot of good prospects coming,” Darche said. “One of them [Schaefer] is going to be in our lineup. Another one [Ritchie] we’ll see when he gets healthy.”

Notes & quotes: Darche confirmed that Barzal will start the season as a center, which was the pre-training camp plan . . . Goalie Semyon Varlamov (knee) continues to skate on his own with no timeline for a return . . . Forward Pierre Engvall (hip) will be re-examined next week.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

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.