Matthew Schaefer makes his Islanders intentions clear after NHL draft whirlwind

Ten or so minutes following his first practice as an Islander, two days after getting drafted, one day after getting off a private jet at Farmingdale airport, and before his third interview of the morning, Matthew Schaefer had one request. “Can I sit down?” he asked. It’s all gone so fast for this 17-year-old, there hasn’t been much time to do that lately. To talk to Schaefer is to feel the big-time intersecting with his small world.At some point in all the madness, he saw a video from a draft party back home in Stoney Creek, Ontario, with all of his teachers at a year-end party seeing Gary Bettman announce his name with the No.

1 and going crazy, chanting and cheering. At another, he opened his phone and had texts from Matthew Tkachuk and Connor McDavid.The thing still hasn’t stopped buzzing. “I answered all my messages, [but] there’s a bunch I still haven’t answered ’cause I answered all of them and then a bunch keep coming in,” Schaefer said.

“It should die down soon.I’ve been trying to answer as much as I can.” Sunday night, Schaefer said, was the first time in a while he’d gotten a real, full night of sleep.

So there were no nerves when he got onto the ice wearing an Islanders sweater for the first time at development camp in front of a decent-sized crowd of fans that came out on a Monday morning for a glimpse of the franchise’s future. There’s been so much going on, it’s almost easy to forget that Monday also doubled as Schaefer’s first formal practice — he’s worked out plenty in private — since breaking his clavicle at World Junior Championships two days after Christmas. “I was smiling ear to ear the whole time, just to get back out there,” he said.“I’ve said this a lot: Hockey players don’t like watching.

To get all the equipment on, play with other guys, getting out there was a big thing for me.Can’t wait.

I just can’t wait to start working as hard as I can all summer so I make that openin...