Matthew Schaefer, who is No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft, is in good spirits and remains on schedule to return in April after breaking his collarbone at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.
The 17-year-old defenseman prospect had surgery Dec. 30 after sustaining the injury three days earlier while representing Canada in Ottawa.
"I'm feeling a lot better, doing 'physio' a couple times a week and trying to progress more and more each and every week," Schaefer told NHL.com on Saturday. "Obviously, if I have a setback, we'll take a step back and then keep building towards progressing more each week.
"I'll listen to what the doctors say, but if I could come back tomorrow, I would put on the skates, for sure. But I know I'm medically not ready."
Schaefer (6-foot-2, 183 pounds) was injured in the first period of Canada's 3-2 shootout loss to Latvia on Dec. 27 when he lost his balance chasing down a puck in his own end before crashing into the right goal post with his left shoulder. He has been working his way back into shape with plenty of biking and physiotherapy.
"I skated down, took a shot and I followed my rebound," Schaefer recalled. "I didn't think I was in line with the post, but then at the last second I was like, 'Oh no,' and couldn't move away because I was going so fast. Obviously, it's a serious injury and a lot of people would think it's the end of the world, but after my mom passed away (from breast cancer in February 2024), my mindset has really changed on life.
"I'm just happy to be here every day, and there are worse things that could happen. I'm just going to come back stronger than ever and just do as much physio to come back at 110 percent. This is just a little bump in the road. ... I'm going to come back stronger than ever."
Schaefer missed the opening nine games of the season for Erie of the Ontario Hockey League because of mononucleosis.
He had an opportunity to speak with Edmonton Oilers captain and former Erie center Connor McDavid about his injury when the latter had his No. 97 retired by the OHL team at Erie Insurance Arena on Jan. 10. McDavid sustained a broken collarbone 13 games into his NHL rookie season in 2015-16.
"On McDavid's jersey retirement night, which wasn't too long after I broke my collarbone, I got to talk to him about everything because I knew he broke his collarbone his rookie season," Schaefer said. "He filled me in and told me to take my time and make sure it heals fully first and just do lots of physio."
Schaefer was captain for gold medal-winning Canada at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he had six points (two goals, four assists) in five games. He also had five points (one goal, four assists) to help Canada win gold at the 2024 IIHF World Under-18 Championship.
He was the second-youngest player on Canada's roster at World Juniors, two months older than forward Gavin McKenna, who isn't eligible until the 2026 NHL Draft.
Schaefer had 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) and was plus-21 in 17 games for Erie prior to his injury. He intends to continue his rehabilitation and make sure he's ready for whenever he gets the green light.
"I wear a sling when I go out in front of people because a lot of people wouldn't know, so they'd hit me in the shoulder," Schaefer said. "I have got to be careful when I come into contact with people. But I like to keep my arm out of the sling because it gets stiff when it's in there, so when I am able to move it more, it helps out a lot more."
He was humbled to learn he earned the No. 1 rating on Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters, but he knows the draft is still more than four months away.
"It's definitely an honor," he said. "But there's so many talented people in this draft class and there's definitely a lot of hockey to be played, more so by them and less by me, so anything could happen. You’ve just got to keep working hard."
