Doerrie predicted that the Islanders would use the No. 1 pick on Erie Otters defenseman Matthew Schaefer. The 17-year-old was limited to just 17 games in the 2024-25 season after he suffered a broken collarbone while playing for Canada at the 2025 World Juniors. In those 17 games, he scored five goals and had 22 points.

The hard work of turning around an Islanders team that has missed the playoffs twice in the past four years, and not won a series since reaching the 2021 semifinals, starts now with New York anticipated to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer.

Schaefer, a wiry 17-year-old defenseman standing 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, heads into the draft as the consensus top prospect, having edged out center Michael Misa through force of personality and a tour de force of an injury-shortened season.