New York Rangers player Matt Rempe is quickly becoming one of the NHL’s most talked-about rookies of the season, despite only having played 12 games so far. The six-foot-seven, 241 lbs player made his debut in late February of this year and has already racked up a staggering 54 penalty minutes. He’s become a controversial character, with some fans loving his revival of the old-timey heavyweight name of hockey, though others see him as a reckless kid. 

Rempe’s debut with the Rangers against the New York Islanders was a memorable one for sure, the rookie was not only the first player in the NHL to debut in an outdoor game, but he also had no intention of playing clean. A minute and half into the first period on his first shift, Rempe would drop the gloves with veteran tough-guy Matt Martin, earning himself his first five penalty minutes in the big leagues.

Following a slightly less remarkable game against the Dallas Stars, Rempe seemed hell-bent on making an impression for his first game against the Ranger’s rival, the New Jersey Devils. With only 13 seconds on the ice, Rempe would lay a hard hit to the head of Jersey’s Nathan Bastian. Despite some heavy bleeding, Bastian would return to the ice unharmed. Rempe, however, was ejected from the game with 17 penalty minutes. Ranger’s head coach, Peter Laviolette seemed pleased with the rookie’s work, commenting, “That’s just a big man”, post-game.

Having avoided much discipline for the Bastian hit, Rempe would jump back into dropping the gloves with Nicolas Deslauriers in his fourth NHL game against the Philadelphia Flyers. After getting tossed to the ice by Deslauriers, Rempe would make his first career goal and win the game for the Rangers. 

The rookie would have a similar game the following night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Two minutes in, Rempe would trade some heavy blows with Matthieu Olivier, before later knocking the puck up to Adam Edstrom and earning his first career assist as Edstrom laid the puck in the back of the net. 

After a second game against the Blue Jackets where Rempe skated a career high of 7:42 minutes, the Calgary native returned to Canada for his first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Rempe would knock Toronto’s Ilya Lyubushkin out of the game with a heavy hit in the second period. With six minutes left, Toronto’s heavy-hitter Ryan Reaves would drop the gloves, an invitation Rempe was all too prepared for. The pair seemed to be evenly matched, exciting the arena and landing some hard blows on either side. 

For those counting, after only seven games in the NHL, this young rookie had been in four fights and earned an impressive 37 penalty minutes. 

Much of Rempe’s controversy is a result of big hit against New Jersey’s Jonas Siegenthaler. In his 10^th NHL game and second game against the Devils, Rempe would charge Siegenthaler in the neutral zone and hit him high with an elbow to the head, throwing him to the ice and out of the game. Several New Jersey players would charge at Rempe, before being held back by refs. Rempe received five minutes for elbowing and a 10-minute misconduct. 

The rookie was escorted from the ice, giving the Devils a friendly wave goodbye. It was announced the following day that Rempe would receive a four-game suspension and a disciplinary hearing for the hit. 

The reputation of Matt Rempe changed that night. New Jersey Devils’ player, Kurtis MacDermid would say of the incident, “There’s a right way to go about things and a wrong way. I kind of lost a lot of respect for him tonight.”

Despite the Devil’s clear disdain for the rookie, Rempe, the Rangers, and the National Hockey League Players Association have stated the contact was unavoidable because Siegenthaler stopped short and Rempe may have been bracing himself for impact against the boards.  

Even with his brief career, Rempe has become a beloved player for New York, with Rangers fans chanting his name at Madison Square Garden. Along with this praise comes fear and worry across the league. The only thing we know for sure, is the New Jersey Devils have yet another reason to rival with the Rangers and watch their backs for the ever-growing “Rempemania”