Islanders' Matthew Schaefer draws praise from Hall of Famer Phil Housley: 'He's a terrific talent'

Phil Housley knew he had a good rookie season in 1982-83, but at the time, the future Hall of Famer was unaware that he was setting records by an 18-year-old defenseman that would stand until the Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer broke them last season.

“I didn’t think I had the record,” Housley, now the Kings’ associate coach, told Newsday. “Now they’re manufacturing a lot of stuff, especially with all these young guys coming into the league.”

Thursday night’s game at UBS Arena marked the first time Housley was behind an NHL bench to see Schaefer in person. He did not coach last season after the Rangers fired him and coach Peter Laviolette on April 19, 2025, but Housley rejoined Laviolette for this season when the latter was hired as Kings coach.

Schaefer scored his 18th goal last season on Feb. 26, surpassing Housley’s record of 17 by an 18-year-old defenseman. Schaefer finished the season with 23 goals, tying Hall of Famer Brian Leetch’s NHL record for a rookie defenseman.

When Schaefer notched his 58th point on April 4, that surpassed Housley’s previous record of 57 points as an 18-year-old defenseman. Schaefer finished with 59 points.

Housley, whose birthday is March 9 — meaning he turned 19 during his rookie season — finished with 19 goals and 47 assists for the Sabres in 1982-83. He went on to play 1,495 regular-season games over 21 NHL seasons for eight teams, recording 338 goals and 894 assists.

“The game was a little bit different,” Housley said. “The structure of the game defensively. We had some big-scoring games and it was a little bit more open. Now, for him to be able to do that, especially with the structure with everybody reloading, trying to get above the ‘D.’ They’re very aware of the players they are playing against. To be able to do what he’s doing says a lot about the ability of Schaefer.”

Schaefer entered Thursday with eight assists in the Islanders’ first nine games.

“He’s a terrific talent,” Housley said. “He has really good escapability on breakouts. He has great edges. He can evade and escape. He’s not afraid to lead a rush, he’s not afraid to join the rush, he’s not afraid to beat someone one-on-one because of his skating ability and also his hockey IQ. He sees the ice very well. All those things add up to being a dominant player for years to come.”

Housley also was a skilled skater, but, at 5-10, 185 pounds, he did not have the size advantage that Schaefer does at 6-3, 193.

“He was a gifted player. He wasn’t big,” MSG Networks Islanders analyst Butch Goring, who played against Housley, told Newsday. “He could shoot the puck. He got up in the play. He wasn’t Bobby Orr. He had a different style than a Ray Bourque or any of those guys. But he used his quickness and his hockey sense to make a lot of things happen offensively. He was great on the power play.”

Goring sees a specialness to Schaefer’s game that he hasn’t in other defensemen.

“They’re different in some ways and, obviously, they’re similar,” he said, comparing Housley and Schaefer. “Schaefer is a great skater and he has great hockey sense. The biggest difference with Schaefer is that he doesn’t hesitate to being a forward, that’s probably the best way to describe it. If you watch him, you wouldn’t know what position he plays. He’s up, he’s down and he’s back.

“He’s brought something to the game that I don’t think anybody’s ever done before. Jumping into the slot, those type of things, that’s unique that I haven’t seen.”

Goring noted one other difference between the players and the different eras for their careers. Housley didn’t know he was setting records. Schaefer was reminded every day about the milestones he was hitting.

“Nobody was writing about it every day and talking about it on TV,” Goring said. “You’ve got to give Schaefer credit because I’m sure there was a lot of pressure associated with that. Everybody was reminding him every day that you’re breaking records.”

Housley said he had a vague awareness of where he ranked among young players at the time.

“As far as the records, I didn’t know where that was going,” he said. “There was a lot of good hockey players back in the ’80s and ’90s. You had some guys like Dale Hawerchuk, as a rookie, getting 100-some points [103 for the Jets in 1981-82] and Neal Broten [98 for the North Stars in 1981-82]. Other than that, I was in the top five; it was a pretty good benchmark for me. For a defenseman.”

Actually, good enough to set records that stood for 43 years until Schaefer came along.

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.