



LOS ANGELES — The New York Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft Friday night.
High-scoring forward Michael Misa went second overall to the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks took Swedish forward Anton Frondell third at the Peacock Theater in downtown L.A.
The Flyers grabbed forward Porter Martone sixth overall before trading up for the 12th selection to get forward Jack Nesbitt, while the Penguins maneuvered up and down the draft to control three picks in the top 24, swinging two trades to draft three forwards.
But the Islanders surprised nobody by using their first No. 1 selection since 2009 on the 17-year-old Schaefer, a 6-foot-2 blueliner from Hamilton, Ontario, who spent the past two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters.
An exceptional puck-mover and transitional force, Schaefer scored 22 points while playing in only 17 games last season before breaking his collarbone in December. Schaefer’s acumen on both ends of the ice still propelled him to the top of nearly all draft boards.
The selection made even more sense after the Islanders traded star defenseman Noah Dobson to Montreal for a pair of first-round picks and forward Emil Heineman earlier in the day
The Islanders used those picks to select right wing Victor Eklund from Sweden and hard-hitting defenseman Kashawn Atchison from Barri in the OHL.
Center Caleb Desnoyers went fourth to the Utah Mammoth, who moved up 10 spots in the draft lottery.
The Predators chose physical forward Brady Martin with the fifth pick before trading up for the 21st selection to get Kitchener defenseman Cameron Reid.
The fans of the host Kings inside the theater got fired up for their club to make the 24th selection — which the Kings promptly traded to Pittsburgh for the 31st and 59th selections, prompting groans from the crowd.
The Penguins created the majority of the surprises in the first round, first by choosing Calgary Hitmen center Benjamin Kindel with the 11th pick — much higher than many prognosticators expected.
Pittsburgh then traded the 12th pick, which originally belonged to the Rangers, to Philadelphia for the 22nd and 31st picks. The Flyers wanted the 6-4 Nesbitt, a fast-rising center from the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires last season. The Penguins also gave a second-round pick to the Kings and swapped first-rounders so they could move up for Michigan center William Horcoff with the 24th pick.
The Ducks took a chance on forward Roger McQueen with the 10th selection.
Columbus chose the first goalie of the draft, grabbing Russia’s Pyotr Andreyanov with the 20th pick.
Misa tore up the OHL last season as the captain of the Saginaw Spirit, scoring 62 goals and 134 points in just 65 games. He joins a struggling Sharks organization that chose Will Smith fourth overall in 2023 and got center Macklin Celebrini with the first overall pick a year ago.
“We just thought it was a perfect fit with what we already have here,” Sharks GM Mike Grier said. “Another guy to step in and be a nightmare matchup for people.”
Frondell excelled as a 17-year-old forward last season with Djurgården in Sweden’s second division, showing off a two-way game that allowed him to push Misa on some draft boards. At 6-2, he could provide a complement to Connor Bedard.
Frondell is the eighth Swedish player to be a top-three selection, joining elite company including Victor Hedman, Mats Sundin and the Sedin twins.
The Boston Bruins used the seventh pick on Boston College center JamesHagens, the consensus top prospect for this draft a year ago.
The Seattle Kraken chose playmaking forward Jake O’Brien eighth.