Flyers draft: Matthew Schaefer and Danny Brière’s little-known connection and other notes from the NHL combine

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Matthew Schaefer won’t be around when the Flyers make their first selection at the 2025 NHL draft on June 27, but that won’t stop the defenseman and general manager Danny Brière from texting each other.

Schaefer, who is expected to go first overall to the New York Islanders, wears No. 48 for Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. It’s the same number Brière sported in orange and black.

“My brother met Danny Brière in Buffalo at a hockey tournament. Danny was coaching his son, and then he ended up coming to meet my brother. He went to his eye level, he talked to him, and from that day on, my brother wanted to wear 48,” said Schaefer, of his brother Johnny, who met Brière, then a star for the Sabres, at a young age.

Todd Schaefer got Brière, after Johnny’s team faced Caelan Brière’s team at the tournament, to speak to the team, take pictures, and sign autographs. It was a small gesture but a significant one.

“The story that I’ve heard is that on the way out, there were a lot of kids asking for pictures, and Johnny would have told his dad he wouldn’t want to share his dad with anybody else, like my kids had to do because my kids were on the side waiting for me to be done,” Brière told The Inquirer. “So his dad explained to him what it’s like to be a professional athlete and to give back to the hockey community. So I guess Johnny was very impressed, and I became his favorite player.”

Added Brière: “We don’t realize the impact we can have on people, on players, on families, on brothers. Hearing the story makes you realize it was a small gesture and took 5-10 minutes of my time, and it created a bond for the family.”

» READ MORE: NHL draft combine: Top prospects wrap up testing, here’s how the final day went

The two brothers often watched hockey clips of Brière, who became their favorite player. Matthew Schaefer, emulating his older brother, continued the family tradition of wearing Brière’s No. 48. And despite the 10-year age gap, the younger Schaefer credits his big brother for toughening him up — although he did enjoy being the little brother at times.

“He’d put on full equipment, I’d put on full equipment, and he’d dump the ball into the garage. I’d be going to get it, and he’d come and blow me up. I’d go in crying. He’d get in trouble,” Schaefer said with a grin. “So in that sense, it was pretty funny to watch. I remember crying and then laughing as he was getting in trouble.”

At just 17, Schaefer and his family have been through a lot. His mother, Jennifer, died from cancer last February, two months after his billet mother died. They are a close-knit family, and Schafer has grown close to Brière. Two years ago, Brière spotted the familiar 48, heard the story, and they started a relationship.

“He will always have my back no matter what happens,” said Schaefer, who is also working out with former NHL defenseman Mark Giordano. “He tells me, [he’s] just a call away. He’s gotten to know my family. I got to know him. So really cares about people, and I’m happy I have someone like him in my corner.”

No surprise here, but several of the top players in this year’s draft have NHL connections.

Caleb Desnoyers’ brother Elliot has played four games in the NHL after being drafted by the Flyers in 2020. Elliot has spent the past three seasons with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League and is a restricted free agent.

Blake Fiddler is a defenseman born in Nashville and raised in Dallas, as his dad, forward Vernon Fiddler, moved around for his NHL career. William Horcoff put on a show at the NHL scouting combine, including setting a record for the horizontal jump, and is the son of former Edmonton Oilers captain Shawn Horcoff; yes, Horcoff is cheering for his favorite team in the Stanley Cup Final. And Sascha Boumedienne knows his dad, Josef Boumedienne, who is the GM of Sweden’s national team, is always available for a chat.

For Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen, it’s his mother who is the former NHLer. Manon Rhéaume, who won a silver medal for Team Canada at the 1998 Olympics, became the first woman to play in an NHL game when she played a preseason game as a goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992. She has worked in the Los Angeles Kings front office for the past three seasons. Her son, Rhéaume-Mullen, is a defenseman at the University of Michigan, and his uncle, Pascal Rhéaume, played 318 games at forward in the NHL before becoming an assistant coach for the New York Islanders’ AHL team.

Cullen Potter is a smooth-skating forward, which he must get from his mother, Jenny Potter, who helped the U.S. win its first Olympic gold in women’s ice hockey in 1998. She added a bronze in 2006 and silvers in 2002 and 2010. Center Jake O’Brien’s mother, Amy Turek, was a Canadian international and top talent in the original NWHL, and led the Beatrice Aeros in points in 1999-00 with Geraldine Heaney.

Of course, like Desnoyers, plenty of other younger brothers are getting set to hear their name called. Henry Brzustewicz, a defenseman and London teammate of Flyers prospects Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk, is the younger brother of Calgary Flames defenseman Hunter Brzustewicz. Victor Eklund, a winger from Sweden, likes to play Fortnite or NHL with his brother William, a winger for the San Jose Sharks. And, to prove he is officially the little brother, Eklund wears 38 because his brother wore 37 at one point and wanted the higher number.

» READ MORE: Flyers draft: Here’s what potential targets James Hagens, Jake O’Brien, and Anton Frondell said at the combine

Travis Konecny’s ears must have been burning all week, with several players in this draft class naming him their NHL comparable.

“Yeah, he’s pretty physical and so am I,” said Eklund, who did tell the Flyers his comparable. “He has a lot of energy and always brings 100 on the ice, like I do. So, basically, watching him and I feel like I look like him on the ice.”

“He’s a really good hockey player.”

Eklund is a skilled winger who likes to be a pest, and with fellow top-10 prospect Anton Frondell, helped Djurgårdens IF get promoted to the SHL, the highest men’s hockey league in Sweden. Listed at 5-foot-11, he works on his skills by shooting pucks in his garage and playing floorball.

Justin Carbonneau watches a lot of Konecny clips and said he made the Flyers brass smile when he said that’s his comparable, too.

“Just his mentality,“ he said. ”He’s not the biggest guy, but he goes to the net and he’s willing to do everything it takes to score a goal."

Montreal is known to throw in oddball questions. This year, they had two: If you were an animal, what would you be on and off the ice? And, it’s you and another person in the desert, there’s a bottle of water that cannot be shared and a baseball bat, and the other person reaches for the water bottle, what do you do? Not everyone got the latter, but Desnoyers said he’d hit a home run; read into that however you want.

Michael Misa, a center expected to go at No. 2, said he’d be a golden retriever off the ice and a wolf on it. Roger McQueen, another top-end center prospect, said he’d be a horse because “they’re good with people and can do lots of jobs.”

Defenseman Haoxi (Simon) Wang, who was born in China, said he’d be an hippo on the ice: “It’s harmless on the outside, but if you get on his bad side.” He then clarified, it would be an angry hippo.

Vaclav Nestrasil is a right winger who said he’d be his dog off the ice — the family-oriented Corso — but on the ice? “A fox. I kind of figured that they’re pretty smart. They kind of irritate players, and they’re family oriented, so that’s kind of how high I am.”

Defenseman Logan Hensler, who plays defense at the University of Wisconsin, said he would be a pitbull because they’re good house dogs, but if you flip that switch, they can be deadly.

» READ MORE: Flyers mock draft: Sizing up their three first-round picks and adding help at center

Who the Flyers will take is not just to be determined, but is also a domino effect, based on who the five teams in front of them take. But with 11 picks, including seven in the top 48, the Flyers did their due diligence and spoke to around 60 prospects from June 2-6.

The Inquirer can confirm the following prospects spoke with the Flyers.

Centers: Desnoyers, Frondell, James Hagens, Horcoff, McQueen, Misa, Brady Martin, O’Brien,

Left wings: Carter Bear (can play center too), Eklund, Potter, Malcolm Spence, Shane Vansaghi

Right wings: Carbonneau, Porter Martone, Nestrasil

Defense: Kashawn Aitcheson, Carter Amico, Boumedienne, Brzustewicz, Fiddler, Hensler, Radim Mrtka, Wang

Goalie: Joshua Ravensbergen

The Flyers also went out to dinner with Martin, Martone, and O’Brien — and while steak dinners are a big deal in Buffalo, not every meal was at a steakhouse. O’Brien said the Flyers took him to a “pork spot” and he had a half chicken, Swiss Chalet-style rotisserie chicken.