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Ice Lab

Defence · #48

Matthew Schaefer

Age
19
Shoots
Left
Height
191 cm
Weight
88 kg
Born
Hamilton, CAN
Draft
2025, round 1, #1 (NYI)

Career · 2025–26 to 2026–27

Games
86
Goals
23
Points
62
TOI per game
24:42
xGF% (5v5)
49.9%
Goals above expected
+6.2

Season by season

The regular-season line for each season, with the total, by team for traded players.

2025–26NYI82233659+1324:4122210.4%1816.350.1%
2026–27NYI4033+125:02110.0%20.545.8%
Total1 team86233962+1424:422339.9%2016.849.9%

Form

Rolling averages smooth out single games so the trend shows.

Form, ten-game rolling

Points and individual expected goals per game (left scale), averaged over the previous ten games. Ice time is on the second chart.

Points per gameixG per gameTOI per game (minutes)
00.20.40.60.811.21020304050607080
21m22m23m24m25m26m27m28m1020304050607080Game

Player card

How 2025–26 to 2026–27 compares with everyone else at the position over the same seasons, and the players with the most similar profile.

Overall rating

1st pair

85th percentile among qualified defencemen, blending scoring 30%, play-driving 50%, usage 20%.

  1. 1st pair
  2. 2nd pair
  3. 3rd pair
  4. Extra / AHL

Scoring

1st pair
  • Goals /600.6598th pct
  • Assists /601.1085th pct
  • ixG /600.4896th pct
  • Shots /606.5896th pct

Play-driving

2nd pair
  • xGF% (5v5)49.9%53rd pct
  • CF% (5v5)50.0%57th pct
  • Relative xGF%+3.081st pct
  • xGA /60 (lower is better)2.7718th pct

Usage

1st pair
  • TOI per game24:4297th pct
  • PP time share67.8%96th pct
  • PK time share23.8%37th pct
  • Quality of competition25.2%82nd pct

Percentiles among defencemen with 200+ minutes at 5-on-5 and 20+ games. Ratings rank each column's average percentile among the same players and read it as a role on a depth chart (how).

Finishing

Did the goals match the chances?

Goals against expected goals

Cumulative goals (solid) and individual xG (dashed) through the season. The gap is finishing: above the dashed line, the player scored more than an average shooter would from the same chances.

+6.2 goals above expected

051015202520406080Game

Goals above expected, everyone at the same position with 20+ games

−8−6−4−20+2+4+6+8+10

Speed and tracking

From the NHL's EDGE tracking system (2021–22 on): skating speed, shot speed, distance and zone time, for the selected seasons and then every tracked season, to show improvement or decline.

Tracking data (NHL EDGE)

Values from the NHL's puck and player tracking, with the NHL's own league percentile for each. Missing values mean the player wasn't tracked enough.

Tracking

  • Top skating speed37.0 km/h100th pct
  • Speed bursts over 20 mph18100th pct
  • Hardest shot154.2 km/h98th pct
  • Distance skated18 km82nd pct
  • Offensive-zone time48.7%93rd pct
Tracking, season by season

Each season against the other defencemen that season with 20+ games. A season in progress appears once half its games are played, as provisional: season bests only grow. Bursts and distance are per 60 minutes of ice time, so seasons with fewer games still compare. Percentiles are on these rates, so they can differ from the NHL's, which are on season totals.

This playerMedian defencemanMiddle half (25th–75th percentile)Hollow dot: too few games to rank, or a season in progress (*, dashed). Dotted line: no NHL games that season.

Top skating speed

37.2 km/h92nd pct

2025–26 only

343536373825–262025–26: 37.2 km/h, 92nd percentile (82 games)

Bursts over 20 mph per 60

8.0100th pct

2025–26 only

024681025–262025–26: 8.0, 100th percentile (82 games)

Distance skated per 60

14.2 km87th pct

2025–26 only

1313.51414.525–262025–26: 14.2 km, 87th percentile (82 games)

Hardest shot

151.1 km/h62nd pct

2025–26 only

14014515015525–262025–26: 151.1 km/h, 62nd percentile (82 games)

Offensive-zone time

43.7%81st pct

2025–26 only

38%40%42%44%46%25–262025–26: 43.7%, 81st percentile (82 games)