Morning Coffee: Schaefer’s blazing start generates early Calder Trophy buzz

The Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs were projected to be the top three contenders in the NHL’s Atlantic Division this season.

Two weeks in, none of those teams are above .500.

Instead, the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings are the only Atlantic Division teams with winning records.

Sure, it’s still early, but after watching the teams from the Sunshine State dominate the Eastern Conference over the past few seasons, it’s interesting to see both teams struggle out of the gate.

Last night, Brad Marchand led the Panthers with two assists in a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins in his highly anticipated return to TD Garden.

Florida snapped a four-game slide to get back to .500.

With Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Dmitry Kulikov and Tomas Nosek all sidelined, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions can’t afford any more significant injuries.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs fell back to .500 with a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils last night.

Fortunately for Leafs Nation, the Toronto Blue Jays are headed back to the World Series for the first time since 1993, buying some time for Toronto’s hockey team to get on track before they retake the spotlight in November.

The Devils have won five in a row to climb into a tie with the Red Wings and Carolina Hurricanes for the best record in the Eastern Conference at 5-1-0.

At the other end of the spectrum, Tampa Bay is stuck at the bottom of the standings with a 1-3-2 record.

Despite the slow start, the Lightning remain the favourite to win the Atlantic Division at FanDuel this morning.

In fact, Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Florida are still the top three choices to win that division at FanDuel right now.

Meanwhile, Detroit to make the playoffs is +130 – longer odds than the Senators.

Speaking of the Sens, it took a little longer than expected but Connor McDavid picked up his first goal of the season in a 3-2 overtime win in Ottawa last night.

McDavid’s six-game goal drought to start the season is the longest of his career.

No. 97 is still the second choice to win the Hart Trophy behind the early favourite Nathan MacKinnon.

In case you’re wondering, Jack Eichel is the third choice to win the Hart Trophy at +700 this morning.

Eichel’s NHL-best 16 points are tied for the fourth-most by any player through their first seven games of a season this century.

The Vegas Golden Knights have cruised to a 5-0-2 start.

Next up, the Knights will head to the Sunshine State, where they will visit the Panthers and Lightning on back-to-back nights this weekend.

It will be interesting to see how Florida and Tampa Bay respond against a legitimate contender in Vegas.

While we haven’t seen many drastic shake ups in FanDuel’s NHL futures markets, there is one notable move that caught my attention.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the best stories from the first two weeks of the NHL season in this Morning Coffee for Wednesday October 22nd, 2025.

Schaefer’s Blazing Start Generates Early Calder Trophy Buzz

Matthew Schaefer to win the Calder Trophy was 22-to-1 at FanDuel on NHL Opening Night.

Two weeks later, the 18-year-old defenceman is down to +145 as the favourite to win that award following a remarkable start to his NHL career.

Schaefer has registered at least one point in each of the first six games for the New York Islanders – tied for the longest point streak by a defenceman to begin their NHL career all-time.

He can break the record with a point when the Islanders host the Red Wings on Thursday night.

Keep in mind, Schaefer just turned 18 on September 5th.

Drafted first overall by New York as a 17-year-old in the summer, Schaefer has already matched Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky for the second-longest point streak to begin an NHL season by a player 18 or younger ever.

He’s also the second-youngest defenceman to register a multi-point game in NHL history.

As somebody who just missed out on drafting Schaefer in my dynasty fantasy hockey league, it’s a tough watch.

The fact that I didn’t get a piece of Schaefer to win the Calder Trophy at +2200 makes it even tougher.

We’ve already seen Schaefer skate against stars like Crosby and Connor McDavid.

The rookie defenceman has not looked out of place.

In fact, Schaefer has led the Islanders with 23:06 of ice time per night through six games.

He’s skated with veteran Scott Mayfield at even strength, while anchoring the top power play unit for New York.

It would be one thing if Schaefer stepped into the Oilers lineup and got off to a hot start anchoring a power play unit that features McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Instead, he’s been a catalyst for the Islanders power play that ranked 31st in the NHL with a 13.5 per cent success rate last season.

Schaefer has registered a goal and three points for a power play that ranks 13th with a 22.7 per cent hit rate.

He also leads all rookies with 19 shots on goal – tied for the fifth-best mark among all NHL defencemen.

While Shaefer has emerged as an obvious early Calder Trophy favourite, he isn’t the only rookie turning heads.

Montreal’s Ivan Demidov was a +190 favourite to win the Calder Trophy entering the season.

The fact that his five points in seven games is considered a slow start by some is a testament to the 19-year-old’s immense talent and considerable expectations.

Demidov to win the Calder Trophy is up to +340 as the second choice at FanDuel.

Minnesota Wild defenceman Zeev Buium is the third choice to win that award at +650 at FanDuel.

Buium is tied with Demidov, Detroit’s Emmitt Finnie, and Anaheim Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke for the second-most points among NHL rookies with five.

St. Louis Blues forward Jimmy Snuggerud, who has registered four points in six games, is +950 to win the NHL’s rookie of the year award.

Sennecke to win the Calder Trophy is +2500.

Finnie to win the Calder Trophy is +4000.

A lot can change over the course of a long NHL season, which is why we haven’t seen major corrections in FanDuel’s markets like the Atlantic Division winner.

However, Schaefer’s remarkable start to his NHL career warranted a significant cut from +2200 to +145 to win the Calder Trophy at FanDuel.

The Islanders were gifted a golden ticket with the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

As much as I wish I had bet Schaefer to win the Calder or landed him on my fantasy squad, I’m still excited to see what him and the rest of this year’s talented rookie class does next.

Have a great day, everyone!