New York Rangers rookie forward Matt Rempe earned himself a 4-game suspension just 10 games into an already buzzworthy NHL career.
The suspension is a result of the Rangers enforcer elbowing New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in the head during a game on Monday.
Rempe, who has made a name for himself with his physical play and fighting abilities, was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for the hit.
Matt Rempe has been suspended 4 games for elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler pic.twitter.com/rJUn1bXzOx
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 12, 2024
RELATED: Rangers Rookie Matt Rempe Earns His 4th Fight In Just 7 Games … AND Respect
Matt Rempe Is Earning A Reputation
Matt Rempe is remarkably involved in his team’s on-ice affairs for a guy who has only appeared in 10 NHL games. Most of it involves his physicality. He’s an enforcer in the vein of the great Derek Sanderson.
Consequently, this suspension does nothing to diminish his reputation as a guy who likes to fight.
New Jersey demanded Rempe be suspended following the game while Devils forward Kurtis MacDermid was very critical of the young player.
“He’s a huge guy, and he’s throwing his elbows around like that,” said MacDermid. “You’ve got to learn how to hit properly and not injure players.”
Rempe stands at 6′ 7″ and weighs 240 lbs.
RELATED: Rangers’ Matt Rempe Singlehandedly Bringing Back ‘Old Time Hockey’ Fights
Old Time Hockey Fighter
If you’re an avid reader of Bounding Into Sports, which you generally should be, you know about Matt Rempe’s penchant for fighting.
Just 7 games into his NHL career he had been involved in four fights. We propped him up as an “old-time” hockey fighter. Others who actually fought him, feel he treats the game with “respect.”
But throwing wild elbows is going to diminish the respect for his game. And, in fact, MacDermid claims he tried to engage Rempe in a fight as a means to settle a score from a cheap shot the Rangers forward delivered to one of his teammates in a previous game.
Rempe refused the fight, and MacDermid was not pleased.
“I asked him. There’s a bit of a code. I thought he would’ve answered that. I don’t know what he was told, but he said no,” MacDermid told reporters. “And after a hit like that [on teammate Nathan Bastian], it kind of goes without saying you should answer the bell in some way and be a man about it.”
Rempe had delivered an illegal check to the head of Bastian.
“Then he throws another hit that gets him kicked out and with a possible suspension,” he continued in his criticism of Rempe. “So, there’s a right way to go about things and the wrong way.”
Meanwhile, Rempe will forfeit $17,083.32 following the elbow. He can appeal the suspension to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The Rangers beat the Devils 3-1, then followed it up with a win over Carolina the next night, 1-0. The game against the Hurricanes additionally marked the first in Rempe’s suspension.
