Matthew Schaefer selected first overall in 2025 NHL Draft
The New York Islanders used the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to select 17-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Schaefer played the last two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Erie Otters. This marks the fourth year in a row that a prospect who previously played in the World Selects Invitational (WSI) went on to be selected first overall in the NHL’s annual draft. Schaefer followed in the footsteps of previous WSI alumni like Macklin Celebrini (Mont Blanc, 2019 and Bolzano, 2018) who was selected first overall in 2024, Connor Bedard (Philadelphia, 2019, Mont Blanc, 2018 and Bolzano, 2017) in 2023, and Juraj Slafkovsky (Spain, 2018, Chamonix, 2017 and Bolzano, 2016) who went 1.1 in 2022.
Schaefer played for DraftDay-Black in the 15U WSI in Nashville. He scored one goal and seven points in nine tournament games, leading his team to the semifinals. There, they were defeated by eventual champion Pro Hockey, led by the 2026 projected first overall pick Gavin McKenna.
Last weekend’s NHL Draft saw a total of 79 former WSI participants hear their names called; more than one-third of all draftees (35.3 percent). And while Schaefer was the first to walk across the stage in Los Angeles, more than half of the prospects selected in the first round also once played in the WSI.
Among the most popular WSI events attended by this year’s NHL Draft class was the previously mentioned 15U tournament where both Schaefer and McKenna competed. That 28-team tournament in the Music City featured 30 prospects who eventually got selected by NHL teams, while some participants — including McKenna — have not yet been made eligible for the league’s draft.
The 12U tournament in 2019 also saw 29 future NHL Draft picks compete in Bolzano, Italy. Ryan Roobroeck — eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft — led the tournament in scoring with 22 points. His teammate in the tournament and future eighth overall selection of the Seattle Kraken, Jake O’Brien, was close behind with 19 points. Their Pro Hockey squad featured two other 2025 selections Ethan Wyttenbach (144th overall by the Calgary Flames) and Will Sharpe (216th overall by the Los Angeles Kings), and the Canada-based organization won the 2019 tournament.
Participants in the WSI that went on to be drafted this summer hailed from as many as eight different countries, speaking to the tournament’s claims as the most competitive international tournament in the world. This year’s draft class brings the total to more than 850 past participants that have gone on to be selected over the past 14 years. Top prospects from the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czechia and Slovakia, among others, didn’t just make their mark on the WSI, but went on to impact the game’s highest level in the NHL.