New York Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe pledged to dial back on reckless hits after serving the first suspension of his young career.
The 21-year-old was handed a four-game ban earlier this month for elbowing New Jersey Devils blue-liner Jonas Siegenthaler in the head. Rempe has also drawn criticism for hits on Nathan Bastian and Ilya Lyubushkin during his short NHL tenure but is adamant the latest incident was a lesson learned.
“More control of my body, just stuff like that. If a guy is pulling out of a hit, just got to be careful,” he told Mollie Walker of the New York Post. “It was an accident. I thought I was going to hit the wall … Never want to see a guy get hurt or anything like that. I’m still going to play super hard, play the same way. I’m just going to make sure my hits are clean, like, keep everything compact, keep everything tight. It will be good. Just live and learn.”
He added: “Obviously, watching back, I did. I made a mistake … I thought I hit the wall, but I ended up hitting him. That was unfortunate. I’m sorry about that.”
Rempe was called out by Siegenthaler’s teammate, Kurtis MacDermid, for not fighting after the hit, but the New York rookie said he had instructions not to drop the gloves. Rempe’s already recorded four fights since joining the Rangers for his first game on Feb. 18.
Head coach Peter Laviolette said he hopes Rempe remains physical – within the rules – when he draws back into the lineup.
“He likes to hit,” Laviolette said. “He’s a good hitter. So he’s got to make sure he’s doing things the right way. That one got away. Every other hit has been pretty good. They’ve been heavy and physical, and he brings that presence to the team.”
The Rangers drafted Rempe 165th overall in 2020. He’s chipped in two points and 30 hits in 10 games so far as an NHLer.
