Brian Leetch

But not, but they're not, like-

Those 20 games of Brian Leetch I'll tell forever [laughs]

... they're not all-stars per se.

Mm.

Well, I'll tell you one thing, even though they play different positions, Matthew Schieffer being a defenseman and won the Calder Trophy last year, I think Gavin McKenna, uh, Gavin McKenna might take his numbers [laughs] from a year ago, as Matthew Schieffer, 23 goals, 59 points.

The 23 goals, by the way, tied an NHL record for rookie defensemen previously set by Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers.

I mean, it's an incredible, the season he had, and we'll talk about some of the injuries the Islanders had to battle through last year as well.

They're some key players.

We played against the New York Rangers in a playoff series.

Jeff Beukeboom and Brian Leetch were a tandem.

Every time Mario was on the ice, those guys were on him.

You know what we would do? We would dump the puck into Beukeboom's corner, the right D-man, and we wouldn't go hit Leetch.

Mm-hmm.

Right? And that's some of the little things in terms of even working around the room and, you know, one of the best things about Mark Messier and, you know, I mean, I can only speak of guys that I've played with and watched, is that there's a level of consistency with those guys and it didn't matter if you were Brian Leetch or Tommy, who did laundry in the room, just you were important.

Mm-hmm.

Right? And you were important and I was consistent the way I showed how important you were to me, to us.

The 1986 NHL Draft produced a strong group of stars.

Detroit selected Joe Murphy first overall, while other notable picks included Vincent Damphousse and Brian Leetch.

Hm.

Yeah.

Schaefer tied the NHL record for goals by a rookie defenseman.

His 23 goals matched Brian Leetch's rookie defenseman record, while 59 points established a new NHL high for an 18-year-old defenseman.

Already handled true number one defensive minutes.

He averaged an incredible 24 minutes 41 seconds time on ice last year, leading all NHL rookies on time on ice and setting a record for highest average time on ice ever by an 18-year-old skater.

And, um, you know, a lot of times you hear about how so many different people were atta- or, or excuse me, were impacted by the attacks, and, uh, that's certainly true.

But, um, an example of that, I, I think certainly was Brian Leetch.

Brian Leetch had a friend working in the World Trade Center, one of his best friends, you know, per Leetch himself in some interviews.

And his friend, uh, unfortunately didn't make it.

You know, he passed away in the attacks.

And it was actually Brian Leetch that scored the game-winning goal that night, uh, against the Sabres in overtime.

So, um, a- again, you know, it, it doesn't do anything to bring everybody back, but, uh, just the fact that they were back and they were playing hockey in New York City and, uh, the Rangers got a dramatic win, obviously, uh, you know, a nice moment there for sure.

And it wasn't just the Rangers.

He's already reached 90 and 92 points, but never crossed 100.

Only six defensemen in NHL history have ever produced a 100-point season: Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, Denis Potvin, Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch, and Eric Karlsson.

So you would think that that's kind of an important one to get.

Eric Karlsson with the flow or the shortcut?