Long Island has embraced Matthew Schaefer as one of its own, but the Martin family literally has taken him in.
Schaefer, the Islanders’ 18-year-old rookie sensation and No. 1 overall pick in June’s NHL Draft, is living with Matt Martin, the longtime Islander fourth-liner and now a special assistant to general manager Mathieu Darche.
Martin and his wife, Sydney Esiason Martin, already had a full house with four young children – each 5 or younger. Now they have added a teenager, one who is gaining notoriety by the day and quickly becoming part of the family dynamic.
“He met Matt right after the draft, so he instantly, I think, just took a connection to him,” Sydney said Wednesday morning on “Boomer & Gio,” her father Boomer Esiason’s WFAN radio show. “They are like buds, and he was comfortable with him. So I kind of knew it was maybe going to happen. He had, obviously, other players offering it to him.
“But he came over a lot for dinner, and then his dad, about a couple weeks ago, said to Matt, ‘He’s really comfortable at your house. I know it’s a lot to take on. I know you guys have four kids. But he loves your house, loves being with your kids, and he’s comfortable there. So do you think you guys would take him in?’ And actually, his agent is also Matt’s former agent. So Pat [Morris], the agent, was calling us and asking if we’d be OK with it. And I was wrapping my head around it for a few weeks, and it just fell into place.”
Schaefer, from Canada, has a six-game point streak to start his NHL career, his latest performance including a goal and an assist in the Islanders’ 4-3 home win over the Sharks on Tuesday night. But it is in the Martin residence where the defenseman truly is becoming a star, forming a bond with 5-year-old Winnie, nearly-3-year-old Alice and twin boys Henning and Bear, who were born in June.
“He gets to see Alice every morning, and she goes nuts,” said Sydney, who took all four children to the Islanders’ game against Winnipeg on Oct. 13. “It’s like she hasn’t seen him in four days.”
Schaefer’s teenage years have come with plenty of adversity. His mother, Jennifer, died in February 2024 following a two-year battle with breast cancer.
“I wanted him to feel at home,” Sydney said. “I ended up framing a bunch of pictures of him and his mom, his dad and his brother, his girlfriend, and put them in his room when he first moved in. And Matt and I got so awkward that we both didn’t want to bring him up to the room because we didn’t know if he was going to get emotional or not.
“So we had Winnie bring him up, and he was touched by that and he was very thankful that I put those out for him. And I think he’s definitely feeling comfortable, and we’re getting into a groove here. So it’s working.”
The Martins are paying for everything related to Schaefer’s living, and Sydney renovated a room in the basement for him. She said she is sure he will pick up some dinners, and he did supply a housewarming gift: a roll of toilet paper.
She said the living arrangement is a “full-season commitment,” assuming Schaefer wants to find his own place next year.
“As your dad, I’m very proud of that, that you’re doing this,” Boomer said.
It is not an uncommon occurrence for rookie NHLers to live with veterans.
“A lot of guys in the league, rookies, go in and live with veterans,” Sydney said. “A lot of people didn’t, I don’t think, know that. But [Mat] Barzal did that with the [Dennis] Seidenbergs. Noah Dobson did that with Seidenbergs. Lou [Lamoriello] in Toronto made sure that the first year with Mitch Marner and Auston [Matthews] that their parents were in town, or at least kind of living with them.”
Sydney said that Schaefer likes Skittles, though he is happy eating whatever the Martin family wants for dinner. She is doing his laundry, but he keeps walking into Matt’s closet and wearing his clothes – including a Gucci T-shirt, a Todd Snyder jacket and cargo pants Wednesday morning.
“I think stability is important, especially that first year,” Sydney said. “There’s a camera in his face every two seconds right now. He told me this morning that Reese Witherspoon followed him on Instagram. He’s getting a lot of exposure, and I know that there’s a lot of pressure, especially taking on that pressure at that age.
“I just want to make sure that we’re an outlet for him at home if he makes a mistake and if [he] has a bad game – which seems to not happen so far. So I think it’s important that he has somebody like us and a family to come home to and take his mind off things when things get a little hard.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports’ general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.