SIMMONS: No one compares to Orr, but how about Schaefer?

Article content

The memory is as clear as any memory can be, some 60 years later.

Article content

How big the night seemed. How much anticipation there was.

Article content

Article content

The night Bobby Orr played his first NHL game at Maple Leaf Gardens.

It was Oct. 29, 1966 and the Boston Bruins were the worst of the six teams then playing in the NHL. But they had this teenager, this special kid my Uncle Bryan told me all about, who was different than anyone who had ever played before.

There was no draft that mattered back then that was seen on television or anywhere else. Boston had the first pick in the 1966 Draft and used its choice to select Barry Gibbs. And they weren’t selecting future Bee Gees at the time.

They got Bobby Orr by trading for his rights when he was all of 12 years old, signed him by the time he was 14. The Bruins had missed the playoffs seven years in a row before Orr, and missed with him for his rookie campaign.

That was the last time they would miss the playoffs for 39 years. They won two Stanley Cups with Orr, lost one, probably should have won four in Orr’s nine seasons: He did what no one has done since, maybe what no one will ever do again.

On Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena, twin brothers held up a sign the in-stadium cameras caught. It read: “This is our 10th birthday. This is our first game.”

What wasn’t written on the sign: And we’re here to watch Matthew Schaefer play his first game in Toronto.

Article content

Article content

Their first game. His first game. Maybe 60 years from now, some senior will turn to a grandson or granddaughter and say: I was there the night Schaefer played in Toronto for the very first time. You remember things like that. The first game. The first point. The first memory of players that are nothing but memorable.

And they become more important as times goes on.

Matthew Schaefer is a once-in-a-lifetime player in a league that doesn’t have many once-in-a-lifetime talents. Even on a night like Tuesday’s rather listless outing with the New York Islanders, there was enough of Schaefer to be in awe about. He didn’t take over the game, the way he has so many nights this NHL season. He just did enough — like a quick personal memo — of who he is and what is to come in the future.

Article content

To compare anyone to Orr is unfair, really. Because there is no equal to Orr. He is on a hockey planet all his own. From defence, he scored 139 points in 1971 to lead the NHL in scoring. He had six straight 100 point seasons on defence, led the NHL in scoring twice, the only defenceman to do that.

His plus-minus in 1971-— a stat that modern historians cringe at — was +124.

You can cringe all you want at that: In the history of Schaefer’s Islanders, no player has been better than Bryan Trottier’s +76.

Schaefer may never get there, which are almost impossible numbers by today’s standards. But like Orr, he leaves an impression almost every time he touches the puck.

Like Orr, he is Ontario-born, Orr from Parry Sound, Schaefer from Hamilton. Like Orr, he played in the Ontario Hockey League, Orr for Oshawa, Schaefer had a brief junior career in Erie, the Pennsylvania city that is part of the Ontario junior league.

Article content

Like Orr, there is a swagger in his game. Orr was less comfortable being the celebrity than Schaefer is already. Both took non-contenders and turned them into contenders.

Matt Martin understands NHL rookies. He was a Maple Leaf when Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Zach Hyman played their first full seasons in Toronto. He watched Matthews come in and score four goals in his first NHL game.

“It was kind of expected,” said Martin, now working alongside Isles general manager Mathieu Darche. “What’s happened with Schaef wasn’t exactly expected. We knew he would be good.

“We didn’t know he’d be this good.”

Martin is more than just a hockey executive to Schaefer. He’s the house dad. Schaefer is living with Martin and his wife Sydney and their four children on Long Island. The grandfather, Boomer Esiason, is a huge Rangers fan and only recently a Schaefer fan.

Article content

In the house, the kid is known as “Uncle Schaef” to the two Martin daughters, Winnie and Alice. The twin boys, still in diapers, aren’t exactly calling him anything yet.

Uncle Schaef is like a kid to the Martins, an adult and play toy for the children, fitting in like he was born to be with his new family.

“He’s like a lot of teenagers, he sleeps a lot,” said Martin. “But when he isn’t sleeping, he’s smiling all the time. He’s a lot of fun. He’s a great kid. The kids love him. My wife loves him. It’s worked out so nicely for all of us.”

Sydney Martin has a job on game nights at home. She picks out Schaefer’s clothing. He may be an artist on the ice but he’s a teenager off of it. Fashion isn’t his best friend. So Sydney makes the wardrobe suggestions, and most of the time Matthew looks great.

Article content

Most of the time, he looks pretty great on the ice. This is how great: He will be the rookie of the year in the NHL.
He will be on my Norris Trophy ballot, Top 5 for best defenceman. He might be on my Hart Trophy ballot, Top 5 for most valuable player to his team in the NHL.

As a rookie, Orr won the Calder, came third in Norris Trophy voting, sixth in Hart Trophy voting. This kind of thing doesn’t happen often.

Paul Coffey scored nine goals in his rookie season. Cale Makar has 12. Quinn Hughes had eight. Denis Potvin had 17.

Schaefer has 20 already. The record for a rookie defenceman is 23. There is time for Schaefer to hit the number held by Brian Leetch.
In Orr’s day, no single player would ever have been traded for the fabulous defencemen. In today’s NHL, the list of players who you might trade for Schaefer is relatively short.

Makar. Hughes. Connor McDavid. Nathan MacKinnon. Macklin Celebrini. And who else?

There is really no one else. Schaefer is already alone as an 18-year-old in his first NHL season.

“There’s not much I can teach him,” said Martin, who somehow lasted 15 NHL seasons and once the led the league in hits. “Truth: I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

He did admit — he never saw Bobby Orr.

ssimmons@postmedia.com

Article content