Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday. This week focuses on a pair New York Islanders defensemen each chosen with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft, Denis Potvin and Matthew Schaefer , and the challenges of their respective debuts 52 years apart.

In each case their buildup was immense. No sooner had the New York Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft the positive adjectives overflowed like rush-hour traffic on the Long Island Expressway.

The same followed Denis Potvin after the defenseman was chosen No. 1 by the Islanders in the 1973 NHL Draft. Typical was an Ottawa Sun headline: "DENIS POTVIN TOUTED A

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