The Calder Trophy went to Matthew Schaefer on Thursday night, and he’s earned a moment of your time to make yourself familiar with him.

Schaefer is only the second player in NHL history to win the award unanimously, joining Teemu Selanne from 1993. Every single voter looked at the rookie class this season and arrived at the same conclusion. Since when does a group of 200 people agree on anything?

The numbers that led to this consensus are staggering for a teenager. Schaefer finished with 23 goals and 59 points in 82 games for the New York Islanders, tying Brian Leetch for the most goals ever scored by a rookie defenseman in NHL history and breaking Phil Housley's records for goals and points by an 18-year-old blueliner.

He became the fastest rookie defenseman in league history to reach 20 goals and the youngest player in NHL history to score an overtime winner. He also set the Islanders franchise record for points by a rookie defenseman, surpassing a mark that had stood since Stefan Persson set it decades ago. He also recorded a point in each of his first six career games, becoming only the second rookie defenseman in history to accomplish that.

What makes all of this land differently is what Schaefer carried into that rookie season. During his OHL year with the Erie Otters in 2023-24, he lost his mother Jennifer to breast cancer and lost his billet mother within a three-month span. He earned OHL First All-Rookie Team honors anyway. He has since developed a close bond with the Foligno brothers, who lost their own mother at a young age, and that mentorship has been a special part of his foundation entering the NHL.

His father and brother presented him with the Calder Trophy on live television Thursday morning. Warning: lots of tears.

The Islanders have something special with this young man. Hopefully we have many great years to come from the 2025-2026 Calder Trophy winner. Congrats Matthew Schaefer.

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🏀 Can These Two Players Help Close Out Game 6?

Friday night's playoff slate has two games with clear analytical edges, and both are series-defining moments. Here are the value spots identified by Jaxon for tonight.

👉️ Cleveland vs. Detroit: Donovan Mitchell

Cleveland has won three straight games in this series and heads home undefeated at Rocket Arena this postseason. Detroit is dealing with a battered rotation, with Duncan Robinson, Caris LeVert, and Kevin Huerter all listed as questionable heading into Game 6. The Pistons came into this series as the top seed and now find themselves one loss away from elimination.

Mitchell is a big reason Cleveland is in this position. Against Detroit specifically this season across seven games, he has averaged 31.1 points and hit his scoring prop in five of those. His usage rate ranks in the 99th percentile at his position and he converts efficiently at every level, shooting 66% at the rim, 52% from midrange, and 36% from non-corner three. 

At home this season he averages 28.9 points per game and has cleared 26.5 in 67% of those games. His last five games show a 30.6 average as he is clearly finding another gear at the right moment. With Detroit's perimeter depth compromised by injuries, the defensive attention required to slow Mitchell down simply may not be available tonight.

👉️ San Antonio vs. Minnesota: Stephon Castle

San Antonio leads this series 3-2 and travels to Minnesota with a chance to close it out. The Spurs have won 30 of their last 40 road games and have been the deeper, more balanced team throughout this series. In Game 5, Minnesota was outscored by 20 points in the eight minutes Anthony Edwards spent on the bench, which tells you everything about the depth disparity in this matchup.

Castle sits at the center of San Antonio's offense with a 28.1% usage rate and a consistent ability of drawing shooting fouls, averaging 5.6 free throw attempts per game. Against a physical Minnesota defense that is being stretched thin by Wembanyama's gravity and Fox's downhill pressure, Castle consistently finds himself in advantageous positions.

His season average of 16.9 points is already above tonight’s line and his ten-game average sits at 18.7. In a closeout road game where San Antonio has multiple ways to win and Castle's role remains central, the floor on this prop feels higher.

Do not miss these before the games tip.

🌲 The Pine Line

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🏎️ Good luck explaining this one. Different kind of car trouble for this F1 driver.

⛳️ Scheffler Leads, PGA Championship Brutalizes the Field

by Ed Egros 👉️ Follow on X @EdWithSports

Because it’s been seven years since Aronimink Golf Club last hosted the world’s greatest golfers, there was a lot of speculation as to what it would take to win and how difficult the course would play.  It turns out, wind, thick rough and tricky greens led to what can be described as one overarching theme:

Profanity

Rory McIlroy had an NSFW word to describe his first round.  Garrick Higgo may have uttered some foul language when talking to officials about getting penalized two strokes for arriving late to the first tee.  And given Patrick Reed was the only golfer without a bogey on Thursday, we can assume nearly everyone at least thought of their favorite expletive.

The Leaderboard

A three-under 67 was the best round anyone could muster.  However, seven golfers carded that score.  Maybe you remember Martin Kaymer and his major championships or bet on Min Woo Lee occasionally, but there’s one name in the logjam atop the leaderboard who’s dominating everyone’s attention:

Scottie Scheffler.

The world’s number-one golfer has always been consistent off the tee and with his ball-striking, but Data Golf has his putting among the best in the field.  

Heating Up

The most mind boggling thing about his career is that Scheffler has never led or co-led after the first round of a major, despite winning four of them.

If the defending PGA Champion is off to an even hotter start than usual, has his usual second/third round surge and his flatstick is working, that’ll make the rest of the field spew all kinds of expletives.

How to Bet It

On FanDuel, not only is Scheffler shorter than 2/1 to win this major, no one else is shorter than 10/1!  For a course that practically no one has a distinct advantage in knowing, betting on the golfer who’s finished second in his last three tournaments still seems like a smart play.

For other smart plays, let’s go to Jaxon and see what else can pad our bankroll:

Cameron Young Top 5 Finish (5/1)

Finishing tied for 49th and four strokes back of the logjam might feel like backing Cameron Young is futile.

But the value and benefit of the doubt are alive and well.  We’re seeing driving distance matter a lot in this tournament.  For instance, Aldrich Potgieter has the longest average driving distance on Tour this season, and he’s tied atop the leaderboard.

Young ranks in the 90th percentile in driving distance.  He has other tools like his approach game that should help him make a charge.  Some ahead of him will fall off given how tough the course is playing.  Cam Young should finish in the top five.

Bet smarter, not harder.

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